1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 118

Upon arriving in Harbin, Zhan Tianyou was immediately received personally by Zhao Yangchun, who was at the pinnacle of his department. Zhan Tianyou was also at the pinnacle of his department, so it was no disgrace for him to be received personally.

Zhao Yangchun hosted a grand banquet for Zhan Tianyou at the provincial government banquet hall, with four tables set up. The other three governors of the four northeastern provinces, who had received advance notice, also sent representatives to attend.

The other three provincial governors couldn't come in person. Provincial governors are not like other positions; they are similar to princes in the Ming Dynasty. They cannot leave their fiefdoms without an imperial edict. Moreover, if the four provincial governors get together for a meal, the central government will have to send an army group over the next day to see what's going on.

Besides hosting a banquet to curry favor with a high-ranking official who was about to be promoted to a central cabinet position, the four northeastern provinces also had other requests for Zhan Tianyou. Zhan Tianyou also held another position—the head of the Northeast Strategic Development Working Group!

This position is not just about transportation infrastructure; it involves the future development of people's livelihood, economy, industry, and education in the four northeastern provinces. As the head of the working group, Zhan Tianyou's words represent the central government's opinion.

The most important aspect is industry. The Northeast is such a good place with abundant coal and iron resources, and the transportation is already in place. It would be unreasonable not to develop some heavy industry. If we rely solely on agriculture, when will we ever be able to catch up with the big brothers in the interior?

Moreover, the head of state also nodded in approval, requiring the four northeastern provinces to diversify their development. If not now, when?

But there's still one hurdle to overcome: the Northeast Strategic Development Working Group. Local officials have more power than distant ones, and without Zhan Tianyou's approval, many things couldn't be pushed forward.

Zhan Tianyou is now equivalent to a military governor of several provinces in the Ming Dynasty. If Zhao Yan had a royal decree, the first one issued would be to Zhan Tianyou.

His words carried far more weight than those of the four provinces themselves. However, in the past, Zhan Tianyou did not abuse his power and did not use his position to interfere with the four provinces. He focused solely on his road construction work.

Now the four provinces want Zhan Tianyou to seize power one last time before he leaves. After all, he's a retired official, so what's wrong with being willful for once?

Zhao Yangchun, representing the views of the four provinces, subtly expressed his opinion to Zhan Tianyou: to see if the working group could obtain a grant from higher authorities, not much, just one or two hundred million yuan would suffice.

The funds should be used for industrial development; otherwise, such a good railway transportation system would be wasted.

Zhan Tianyou was so angry he laughed. "I've been building the railway for almost three years and it only cost me a little over 70 million. And you dare to ask for 200 million? You're dreaming! Even if I went back to the central government and became the finance director, I wouldn't dare to agree to such a request!"

Two hundred million is definitely out of the question. If four provinces apply for twenty million together, averaging five million per province, then it might be possible, but I can't guarantee it. It's probably normal for only twelve million to be approved in the end.

As for being rejected, Zhan Tianyou hadn't considered that. No one would refuse such a request.

Zhao Yangchun didn't expect the higher-ups to agree immediately. He was just happy to receive the money. As for the initial two hundred million, that was just asking for too much. In reality, whatever amount they gave would be a pleasant surprise.

Zhao Yangchun continued to bring up the Yingkou Soybean Financial Center, hoping that the Northeast Strategic Development Working Group could provide the necessary name so that the four provinces could issue official bonds at the Yingkou Financial Center to raise funds for industrial development.

The future development of Northeast China will definitely focus on heavy industry. The only thing that can give the authorities a headache is the large-scale investment in heavy industry. Otherwise, if it were light industry, building some textile factories and shoe and sock factories would not be so troublesome.

Zhan Tianyou agreed to this request. Local provinces had no right to issue bonds; official bonds could only be issued with the approval of the central government. Zhan Tianyou could only help smooth things over.

Zhao Yangchun's third request was to allow the Northeast region to retain some tax revenue, no longer allowing the entire province to be self-sufficient like Hubei had done before. He only hoped that the revenue split could be reduced from 30/70 to 50/50.

Zhan Tianyou didn't agree to this; he only said he would help make the contact. As for whether the central government would agree, that was beyond his control.

"Minister Zhan, I have another personal request," Zhao Yangchun said, his face slightly flushed.

"Governor Zhao, are you ever going to stop? What are you asking for? Do you think I'm a wish-granting machine?" Zhan Tianyou interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

Zhao Yangchun quickly said, "Minister Zhan, the people of Northeast China have been doing their best to help you with the road construction over the past two or three years. All the land was provided free of charge, and the labor was paid at the lowest price. We gave you whatever you needed. This is your only request at the end, which is not a bad thing. Please listen to it!"

Zhan Tianyou said impatiently, "Spit it out!"

Zhao Yangchun said, "Recently, 200,000 tons of soybeans need to be transported through the border. I know that railway transport capacity is precious, but these freshly harvested soybeans cannot wait. They need to be handed over to the Ministry of Education immediately to supply students with free soy milk and tofu!"

"It's only 200,000 tons of soybeans, and you transported them all in a month. Does the railway really lack the capacity for 200,000 tons?" Zhan Tianyou understood somewhat.

Zhao Yangchun stammered, "The railway bureau said they'd charge a freight fee, but we can't afford it."

Zhan Tianyou: "Huh? You want your soybeans to ride for free?"

Zhao Yangchun said, "We really have no money left. We simply can't afford the 20,000 yuan in transportation costs. Buying soybeans is a losing proposition. The Ministry of Education only has that much money. This is a pure loss project. We rely entirely on government-sponsored projects. Every little bit we can save is a loss."

Zhan Tianyou said helplessly, "I'll help you out of consideration for the students, but this is a one-time exception!"

Zhao Yangchun laughed and said, "Minister, you're so generous! I'll drink first as a sign of respect!"

The meal was plentiful, but it consisted mostly of Northeastern Chinese dishes, with a lot of meat. It wasn't too expensive, and Zhao Yangchun, Zhan Tianyou, and their entourage enjoyed the meal.

A central working group like Zhan Tianyou is exactly what the local authorities want. They're not there to cause trouble, but to help solve it. They come with money, but don't leave with it.

They arrived lightly, but left behind a wealth of achievements. Who wouldn't like such an imperial envoy? If possible, the four northeastern provinces hope that this working group can continue to exist, rather than being dissolved after Zhan Tianyou's departure.

In reality, they knew it was impossible. The country wasn't just about the Northeast; there were many other provinces as well. How could they supply only the Northeast?

The central government's working groups have never been anything special; every time they go to the local level, it's a major undertaking. The previous fiscal and tax working group went to the local level and enriched the national treasury, greatly relieving the pressure on both the military and the government.

The strategic development working group in Northeast China didn't come here to act like royalty during these three years. Instead, they brought real money, a lot of technology, equipment, manpower, and resources. They worked hard for three years to tackle the swamps, wetlands, mountains, and lakes of Northeast China, and built so many roads, invested so much money, and carried out so much construction, which is why Northeast China is what it is today.

But after Zhan Tianyou left, this working group will definitely cease to exist. Now Zhao Yangchun and his group are just trying to make one last quick buck.

Zhan Tianyou understood the situation but did not refuse. It wasn't like the other party was taking money out of his own pocket. As long as it was for the benefit of the people in the four northeastern provinces, it didn't matter if they took it or not.

Chapter 198 Northeast (3)

In October, the weather on Sakhalin Island was already starting to get cold.

Shangxing County is also carrying out its final work before the arrival of spring. Shangxing County is one of the four counties under the jurisdiction of Sakhalin City. It is located on the eastern coast of Sakhalin Island and borders the Pacific Ocean.

On maps and in official documents, this place is called Shangxing County, but local Chinese immigrants and North Korean immigrants call it Heartbreak County, because of the Heartbreak Pacific Ocean!

Sakhalin City was established in February 1908, even earlier than Korea Province, but it was eventually placed under the jurisdiction of Korea Province. Perhaps things will change in the future, but no one can say for sure.

The establishment of administrative units in the People's Republic of China is governed by strict rules. Provincial-level administrative units are established either by an area exceeding one million square kilometers or a population exceeding five million. Municipal-level administrative units are established either by an area exceeding one hundred thousand square kilometers or a population exceeding one million. County-level administrative units are established by an area exceeding one thousand square kilometers or a population exceeding one hundred thousand.

Sakhalin Island did not meet either of the two conditions, but due to its special geographical location and being isolated overseas, it was specially designated as a municipal-level administrative unit.

Sakhalin Island currently has a population of around 120,000, with Slavs making up 6,200 (of whom more than 3,000 fled there themselves), Han Chinese making up 44,000, Koreans making up the largest group of more than 80,000, and the remainder being Tatars and Japanese.

This is an administrative region with a very mixed ethnic population. In other places, it would definitely be subject to rectification and reassignment. But in this godforsaken place, there are no problems at all, because the government will exploit every worker in the same way. This place is a "reformation island" floating on the sea.

None of the people who come here are here voluntarily; they are all forced to come for various reasons.

To address the labor shortage, the local government even continued to purchase serfs from Russia and import some "laborers" from Japan. The authorities attached great importance to the oil, gas, and coal resources on Sakhalin Island.

Since the establishment of Sakhalin Island as a municipal administrative unit, its biggest political task has been infrastructure construction. They have been frantically expanding the port, repairing roads, logging and clearing land to turn virgin forests into fertile farmland.

The sole mission of the island's 180,000 inhabitants is to burn everything to build up the island's farmland, dwellings, roads, ports, and other basic infrastructure, transforming this pristine island into a habitable one, and then welcoming subsequent exploration and mining teams.

The central government has already made decisions on energy policy, and the top leadership has an incomprehensible obsession with oil resources. These days, apart from refining kerosene, no one can think of any other use for oil.

Americans even dumped all the gasoline and diesel fuel derived from kerosene refining into the sea, as only the safest and cleanest kerosene had a wide range of uses.

However, the government of the People's Republic of China established several large-scale oil reserve and refining bases in the First Five-Year Plan. The most embarrassing thing is that China does not have large-scale oil fields on its own soil, and its oil resources mainly rely on imports from overseas.

The national exploration team originally wanted to explore for oil fields in Northeast China, but the central government stopped them. Several small oil fields that had already been discovered in the mainland were also stopped from being developed. The higher-ups directly named Sakhalin Island as one of the core oil and gas field development sites in the future.

However, Sakhalin Island's current infrastructure and carrying capacity simply cannot support large-scale energy extraction. If a large number of oil and gas workers and massive amounts of equipment were to flood in, food would likely have to be transported from the mainland, which would be far too costly.

The current pitifully low international oil prices are simply not worth the massive investment in high-latitude regions like Sakhalin Island, but the authorities are still insisting on it.

As a result, Sakhalin Island became a victim, with its people being constantly exploited regardless of ethnicity or class.

At this moment, in a forest in the southern mountainous area of ​​Shangxing County, Kong Lingwan carried a large saw and walked along the mountain forest road. Along the way, Japanese and Slavs were bent over and buried in their work repairing the road, while Han Chinese and Koreans were responsible for logging and clearing land.

The indigenous Tatars of this area were specifically responsible for exploration, hunting, and guarding.

The Han Chinese and Koreans did slightly easier and safer jobs, while the lowest-ranking Japanese and Slavs did the hardest and most arduous work.

You can tell where Kong Lingwan came from just by his name. In the middle of the year, he was crammed into a train car and started his journey north. He then took a ship from Luojin Port in Jilin to the northern part of Sakhalin Island.

He was accompanied by tens of thousands of members of the Kong clan, all of whom were implicated and affected. As for those who were truly heinous, they had no chance to be reformed and were executed or beaten to death by the villagers on their own soil.

Kong Lingwan, as one of the lucky ones who survived the first year, no longer harbored the resentment he had when he first arrived. Now, all he could do was pray to Buddha, for being alive was the greatest blessing.

The Republic conscripted more than 73,000 prisoners to be sent to Sakhalin Island for reformation, but after a brutal winter last year, only a little over 40,000 of the 73,000 Han Chinese remained. The Koreans fared even worse; of the 150,000 who initially came, nearly 60,000 died. The Slavs were reduced to a mere fraction, and the government even had to pay extra to buy more people from the Tsarist government to make up the numbers.

The local government offered a sliver of hope: if everyone could survive until 1910, they would all receive a pardon from the Führer and become free citizens of Sakhalin.

No matter how great your sins were, as long as you lived to 1910, you had completed your atonement.

There was no other way. There had been several riots and uprisings on the island before, and there was even a cannibalism incident last winter. Nobody could see any hope, and everyone could only see that the road ahead was to die. A large number of people simply gave up and even fled to Tsarist Russia.

The city government had no choice but to introduce some milder policies to try to reduce the death rate and then give a date for amnesty. However, they dared not set it too late, with the limit being 1910, because the attrition rate in this godforsaken place was too high.

Most people think that the tropics are the most terrifying, but in fact, the frigid zones are much more terrible than the tropics. The southern peninsula occupied by the Japanese was relatively better, but the northern peninsula occupied by the Republican government suffered terribly.

Even during the hottest months of July and August in the northern peninsula, the average temperature is only around 20 degrees Celsius, which sounds very pleasant, right? But this is the average temperature, not the lowest temperature.

Even in the sweltering summer heat, you need to wear a jacket, and at night, with the sea breeze blowing, you need a blanket.

In winter, the average temperature is minus 24 degrees Celsius. Even at the warmest noon, the temperature only reaches minus 12 or 13 degrees Celsius, and at the coldest night, the temperature can reach minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Temperature is the biggest demon in this place. Last winter, due to the reckless actions of the municipal government, the entire autumn was spent frantically repairing roads and ports, but there were not enough winter supplies, and even houses were not prepared. After one heavy snow and cold wind after another, the city's population decreased by one-third.

Even the island's garrison of 700 men suffered heavy losses, with over a hundred freezing to death. The harsh conditions there were bad enough, but the endless forced labor was unbearable for anyone.

This year, the city government finally learned its lesson. In mid-last month, all infrastructure projects on the island were halted, and everyone began to seize the time to harvest food, store fuel, repair houses, and prepare for winter.

Kong Lingwan is now a member of a logging team. They need to cut down a large number of trees, build cave dwellings on the spot, burn the wood into charcoal, and then hand it over to the county government.

It's not that the people on Sakhalin Island are so extravagant that they can burn charcoal to survive the winter; rather, they need to export charcoal to earn money. The people on the island are not regular citizens of the republic; they are all criminals, so they don't receive any government funding and have to rely on themselves for everything.

The government needs to sell various local specialties and import various necessities from the island, such as clothing, medicine, tools, building materials, etc., all of which are essential for the island to get through the winter.

The islanders mainly use firewood, coal, and even crude oil as fuel to get through the winter. Charcoal is a rare commodity that must be exported to the mainland to make money.

The island is full of towering ancient trees, which are very tall and large, making them difficult to burn. However, the charcoal produced is of excellent quality and is very popular in Northeast China.

After trekking for half an hour, Kong Lingwan and her group arrived at a mountain forest. The forest was full of cold-temperate redwoods and pine conifers. The trees were tall and thick, and century-old trees were considered seedlings in this place.

Trees with diameters of two or three meters are commonplace. Once you walk into the primeval forest, you look up and see nothing but skyscrapers, which is quite magnificent.

The scenery in the forest is beautiful, but the dangers are not to be underestimated. Needless to say, there are snakes, insects, and rodents. There are even tigers and brown bears in the mountains. People often disappear inexplicably when they are alone, and then a few days later they are found with a pile of human bones by a stream.

Wolf packs even frequently raid villages and snatch children. Adults are also in great danger when they are alone, especially now in autumn when humans need to store up supplies for winter and animals need to store up fat for hibernation.

"Listen up, all of you! Don't get separated from yourselves! Even when you're taking a dump, you need at least five people together!"

"Don't expect me to protect you. I only have one gun and ten bullets. If anyone is in trouble, I'll just fire one shot to finish them off!"

The team leader was also a member of the Kong family. Because of his good education, he was appointed as the labor team leader and part-time village head. The entire village mobilized a labor team of 100 able-bodied men, but he was the only one who brought a second-hand Hanyang rifle.

It's unrealistic to expect a rifle to protect everyone. The rifle's greatest use is to give you a quick death if you're wounded by a wild animal. Since you're going to die from that wound, it's better to give you a bullet.

After the team leader finished giving instructions, the rest of the team members started working according to their assigned tasks. After more than a year, everyone knew what they should and shouldn't do.

There is no supervision from above; they will only give you a target. The more you meet the target, the more supplies will be allocated to you based on the percentage you meet. If you don't meet the target, some people will definitely starve or freeze to death. If you do meet the target, the supplies you receive will only be enough to keep you alive. As for exceeding the target, that's unrealistic because the targets set by above are outrageous.

There's nowhere to run in this godforsaken place. If you go south to join the Japanese, they're no better than the reform camps. In fact, people from the Japanese colonization groups in the south even turn around and join them.

At least the reform camps would consider basic humanity, but the Japanese didn't even have basic humanity.

The only relatively safe place was within the territory of Tsarist Russia, but one could only cross it in winter when the strait was frozen over.

Kong Lingwan didn't have so many thoughts on that; he just wanted to get through to 1910 as quickly as possible, then wait for a pardon to become a free citizen, and finally settle down on Sakhalin Island and live a normal life.

Once you become a legal free citizen, everyone can acquire at least ten acres of land locally, and you can build houses however you like. There is timber everywhere on the island. While you may not become rich, you can certainly make a living.

The prerequisite for everything is to obtain a pardon, get a citizenship card and become a free citizen. Only then will you have the basic right to own land, build a house and live a good life.

After working continuously for more than eight hours, and with darkness approaching, the team leader finally ordered a wrap. They were lucky today; only one person died, killed when a large tree fell on them.

On Sakhalin Island, people die from various accidents almost every day. Days without deaths are rare, and if even one person dies, it's considered a good day.

As for who actually died, Kong Lingwan didn't care and had no right to care; as long as it wasn't her who died, that was enough.

A lot of trees were cut down today, and they were all trimmed into logs and piled up at the foot of the mountain. Over the next few days, these logs will be cut into smaller pieces, and then a kiln will be built to prepare for charcoal production.

Everything had to be completed by the middle of the month. The entire village had to hand over five tons of charcoal to meet the "reform quota." Only after the quota was met would the town government distribute winter supplies.

In late October, Sakhalin Island will experience a relentless drop in temperature, and it may even snow in the middle of the month.

When the labor team finished work and returned to the village, it was already dark. From a dugout at the west end of the village came a desperate cry. Everyone knew at a glance that it was the family of the unfortunate man who had been killed by the fallen tree that day.

When someone dies in this place, they're dead. There's no compensation or relief, and the higher-ups won't care about the aftermath. It's all up to fate. Who told you to be a member of the Kong family? Once you're here, don't even think about crying out for justice; even calling on Confucius won't help.

The Kong family has been entrenched in and exploiting Shandong for so many years. It's already an act of leniency that only tens of thousands of people have been implicated. If we were to be serious and hold all those who illegally profited accountable, the Qing Dynasty alone would have implicated hundreds of thousands of people. There probably wouldn't be a single innocent person within a hundred miles of Qufu.

The higher-ups were only considering controlling the impact, so they only arrested a few tens of thousands of people as a token gesture. The real responsibility was to deal with the thousands of family genealogies piled up on the table. In that area, even a dog would be put in the pot, and the earthworms underneath would be shaken out and split in half vertically!

Chapter 199 Northeast (4)

The next morning, Kong Lingwan struggled to crawl out of her straw nest. Peeling off the smelly wolf skin covering her body, she shivered from the cold air.

"Damn it, the weather's getting colder and colder! I wonder if I'll even make it through this winter?"

Getting up and sitting on the pile of straw, Kong Lingwan began to stuff the straw she had used to sleep under the previous night back into her tattered single garment. When the weather gets cold, this is how she keeps warm.

During the day, they would stuff straw around their bodies to keep warm when they went out, and at night they would put it under their bodies to sleep.

There was a pile of fresh hay from this year's oat harvest in the corner, but Kong Lingwan was reluctant to use it. She would save it for the most difficult time of winter.

There are specific ways to use hay for warmth. The more often it is used, the less effective it becomes at keeping you warm. Smart people will use it sparingly and only use the freshest hay when it is coldest.

After getting up, Kong Lingwan first used a small knife to shave some wood shavings, and then used flint to light them. Everything was scarce on the island, and only officials were qualified to use good things like matches.

After filling the stone fireplace with a few pieces of pine wood and lighting the fire, the temperature inside the dugout rose considerably, but the smoke was choking.

Even though the fireplace has been sealed with mud several times, it still leaks smoke no matter what. Without bricks, cement, or a proper iron chimney, it's pure wishful thinking to think you can build a smoke-free fireplace just with stones and mud.