Chapter 58: My Companions Are All Working Hard
The United States, having obtained the desired funds, technology and products from Shanxi, saw substantial and rapid progress in exchanges and cooperation between the two sides. All related matters were gradually put into normal procedural implementation after the Spring Festival in 1900.
Kang Fan will focus on cultural exchange and universal education, leveraging the successful experience and strong strength of the United States in these areas. With the powerful support of Shanxi's financial resources, it plans to build a primary school and middle school in each county within the province, and a comprehensive compulsory education facility from primary school to middle school and various secondary vocational schools in each city. It will also improve and perfect the structure system of compulsory education at all levels within the province, and further expand the scale of Taiyuan University, making it a comprehensive official higher learning institution covering multiple modern disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, electronics, psychology, agriculture, medicine, Chinese, history, philosophy, archaeology, foreign languages, politics, economics, business, journalism, etc. Using its modern cultural concept, superior campus environment, strong faculty strength, advanced teaching and research equipment, good living conditions and other advantages to attract professors, scholars and excellent students from all over the country and abroad to teach or apply here.
At the same time, continue to improve the institutional construction of the Department of Culture and Education, invest heavily in financial resources and materials in aspects such as talent forecasting, education management, teacher training, curriculum materials, educational scientific research, government-funded overseas study, graduate allocation, book publishing, and the living treatment of teachers and students, and gradually form a complete basic science and technology personnel and high-level knowledge-based talent cultivation system, fundamentally solving the human resources problem required for the development of this province.
To enhance the enthusiasm for reading among all people, various government departments and state-owned enterprises in Shanxi Province will openly recruit graduates from schools across the country every October, regardless of ethnicity or gender, giving priority to students from various provinces who have received modern cultural education to work in provincial government departments or state-owned enterprises.
Among them, graduates of Taiyuan University and other universities in China generally enter government departments to pursue a career as officials or enter the management level of state-owned enterprises to pursue a career in enterprise management. The rest of the junior high school, senior high school, and vocational school graduates mostly enter state-owned enterprises or various military schools, becoming industrial workers or soldiers, embarking on their career development path. As a result, a fixed idea of "no reading, no way out" gradually formed in the minds of the people of Shanxi Province, and then spread throughout the country, forming a good atmosphere with a large influence.
These students, after entering the provincial government departments and state-owned enterprises, will gradually replace those unqualified illiterates, semi-illiterates, old-fashioned literati and unqualified personnel, etc. Moreover, since new recruits are hired every year, a good talent competition mechanism is naturally formed, where anyone who does not work hard or makes mistakes will be at risk of losing their current job position. This move will definitely improve the knowledge-based level and working capacity of various government departments and state-owned enterprises in Shanxi Province.
As Shanxi's industry and agriculture develop, job opportunities are everywhere, and those who have been replaced from their original jobs will also find new jobs that suit them, ensuring that life is still not a problem, and also promoting social stability from another aspect. In this cycle, after continuous optimization and elimination of inferior ones, a large number of excellent high-end talents from all over the country will enter various government departments and state-owned enterprises in Shanxi to work, forming a strong talent advantage.
"You just know how to help the people from the Ministry of Culture and Education ask me for money. No matter how much you give, it's always not enough!" Zhong Hanqiang said.
Kang Fan laughed and said, "Old Zhong, you say I don't ask you, the Minister of Finance, for money, who can I ask?"
Zhong Hanqiang also smiled, "To be honest with you, I have a lot of money now. You can have as much as you want."
What Zhong Hanqiang said is true. Under his planning, Shanxi's financial system established the Shanxi Bank with a large gold reserve, implemented a gold standard currency system in line with international standards, and took the British pound, recognized by the world as a trade pricing currency, as its reserve currency. It conducted large-scale stock, bond, and credit investment business operations on the global financial market. Due to proper operation, it gained substantial profits, which is truly something worth boasting about.
"Lao Zhong, you really made a fortune in that era, profiteering and getting twice the result with half the effort!" Kang Fan teased.
Zhong Hanqiang punched him, "What's called profiteering? It sounds really bad! This is financial investment, get it?"
Kang Fan said: "Under the condition of knowing the result in advance, what's the point of continuing to operate? Isn't this called profiteering?"
Zhong Hanqiang couldn't help but agree with him, "Yes, Kang Fan, you're absolutely right. For more and faster updates, please visit my site. I'm passionate about studying the history of capitalist economic development, and I know the operation of the 20th-century global capital market like the back of my hand. If I don't make any money, that would be unexpected!"
"Otherwise, in that era, you could afford to open a bunch of supermarkets, buy a bunch of private cars, and earn a bunch of RMB, while I was just a poor soldier." Kang Fan's face was full of envy.
Zhong Hanqiang smiled and said, "It's just a matter of different encounters. If you want to do it, you will definitely do better than me."
Kang Fan shook his head, looking gloomy. "In a time of peaceful development, people like you are the most useful, able to improve their own lives and those of their families through hard work, provide help to those around them within their means, pay significant taxes to the government, help the government solve part of the employment problem for idle personnel in society, and make some contribution to the country... while I seem to be just an unemployed person living off national relief."
Zhong Hanqiang smiled and said, "Kang Fan, in any era you are a pillar of the country. Believe me."
As exchanges and cooperation with the United States in various fields continue to deepen, Shanxi's foundation in politics, economy, science and technology, culture and other fields has been further consolidated. After a process of learning, absorbing, digesting, improving and innovating, all undertakings have achieved stable development. Under the joint efforts of the police, internal security forces and regular army, the functions of government administrative organs at all levels have been fully exercised, and the decisions made by the government council have been quickly and thoroughly implemented in their respective jurisdictions. The personal freedoms, welfare benefits, political rights that the people should enjoy, as well as the obligations they should undertake, have been clarified and maintained, forming from top to bottom a highly efficient social ideology system with new concepts of laws and regulations, administrative order, social norms and standards.
As a result, on the basis of the gradual improvement of the systems for public facilities construction, transportation, communication and broadcasting, finance and currency, culture and education, medical care and health, and social security, etc., the local economy has been able to sustain stable and rapid growth. A vast array of products that are inexpensive yet of high quality, covering almost all the needs of modern human society, have been sold in large quantities both domestically and internationally, bringing in huge profits which have then been reinvested into local social development, repeating this cycle over and over again, greatly enhancing Shanxi's overall strength.
Correspondingly, the local people's per capita income has increased significantly and their living standards have improved greatly. When people's material needs are met, their spiritual demands become stronger. Gradually, those intangible things brought by Westerners, such as modern sports, cultural arts, and lifestyle concepts, were recognized and accepted by the local people. The deeply accumulated Chinese culture was also awakened and inspired at the same time. Everyone felt the changes brought about by the arrival of a new era with joy, and the national pride that had disappeared for decades seemed to have returned.
The US has long coveted the advanced technology held by Shanxi, so when bilateral exchanges and cooperation were just beginning to unfold, it strongly demanded them with its friendly national identity. Judy even quarreled with Kang Fan several times over this matter, making Kang Fan very embarrassed.
Kang Fan and Mei Xiang's colleagues, after careful consideration, provided some civilian technology to the US side on the condition that it would not affect their own core interests. This move won over the US side and also placated Judy's personal emotions, which can be considered a relatively satisfactory solution. However, in terms of core technologies related to their own interests, they absolutely refused to compromise, as these were crucial for defending against and even defeating Western powers, including the United States, in the future. Under no circumstances could they reveal even a hint of this information. Fortunately, the Security Bureau did an excellent job in protecting and preventing leaks, effectively preventing any major incidents from occurring.
Under the leadership of Shanxi, Heilongjiang closely followed Shanxi's pace and made good use of this rare period of peaceful development amidst domestic and international turmoil to vigorously build and improve railways, highways, inland water transportation, postal services, telecommunications, and hydroelectric facilities, creating increasingly favorable basic conditions for the economic takeoff of both places. With the rapid growth of coal, oil, steel, electricity, rubber, building materials and other basic industrial production capacity in both places, machinery manufacturing, electrical manufacturing, chemical industry and construction industry have received strong support, also enabling them to develop rapidly.
Among them, the internal combustion engine technology that far surpasses the contemporary world is the most comforting for Kang Fan. With this technology, Shanxi can achieve the feat of being the first in the world to enter the internal combustion engine era, and it can also achieve the upgrading and transformation of the local industry as a whole. Compared with the current situation where Western powers are still wandering in the steam engine era, this means an advantage, a huge asymmetric advantage!
Those contemporary excellent intellectuals from all over the country who have been pouring into Shanxi, under the leadership of Mei Xiang and her classmates, with their transcendent ideas, wise minds, selfless work and extreme self-strengthening mentality, quickly transformed the advanced technologies they created into powerful industrial productive forces. The development of government-run enterprises drove the development of private enterprises in both places, causing light industry, service industry, finance industry and other industries to also take off rapidly, with the industrial chain extending continuously to the northern provinces of the Qing Empire.
While making great efforts in its own development, Shanxi Province has also attached great importance to cooperation with various state-owned and private enterprises within the province and beyond. Especially for those enterprises engaged in the production of non-ferrous metals, non-metallic minerals, and raw materials, Shanxi has offered extremely favorable policies and selfless support, rapidly fostering a batch of powerful and reliable partners, solving the problem of industrial raw material supply. At the same time, it has gradually incorporated neighboring resource-rich provinces such as Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jilin, and Liaoning into its development system, forming a closely linked market circle for raw material supply, product sales, capital circulation, talent flow, etc. Relying on Shanxi's strong support in terms of funds and technology, it has driven the economic development of these provinces, so there is no need for Kangfan to worry about it anymore.
So, Kang Youwei devoted all his energy to the defense construction of both places in the first few years of the 20th century, and made full preparations for war before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, taking the opportunity to recover all the sovereignty and land lost by the Qing Empire in Northeast China, and fight a real big battle, a battle that would make Japan and Russia tremble!
One of the most important strategic measures to defend Heilongjiang is to build a railway from Taiyuan, the provincial capital, to Mohe, named Jinhei Railway. This double-track standard-gauge railway runs roughly parallel to the Tai-Mo Highway, starting from Datong in the north of Shanxi Province, passing through parts of Chahar and Inner Mongolia, and ending at Mohe City, with a total length of over 2,500 kilometers, which is a massive project.
Shanxi has formed a parallel and advanced industrial system centered on Ningwu Prefecture in northern Shanxi, Taiyuan Prefecture in central Shanxi, and Hedong District in southern Shanxi. It has the strength to build the Jinzhai Railway, providing sufficient engineering technical personnel, experienced workers, steel materials, steam locomotives, railway equipment, transport vehicles, engineering machinery, etc. The implementation of this project will also drive a new round of capacity expansion of Shanxi's industrial system, and the bright prospects of related industries are worth expecting.
In the autumn of 1903, after the completion of the first trial run of the Shanxi-Heilongjiang Railway, half a year after the completion of the asphalt pavement and infrastructure construction along the Taiyuan Highway, Shanxi and Heilongjiang were connected by highway and railway. With the strong transportation capacity of these two main lines, Heilongjiang Province relied on Shanxi's support to achieve rapid development in various social undertakings: following the establishment of the Hulunbuir and Qiqihar industrial bases, two new industrial and agricultural bases were established in Heilongjiang Province. The province mainly focused on labor-intensive industries such as planting, animal husbandry, aquaculture, forestry, papermaking, leather making, food processing, mining, and services, thus resettling more inland immigrants than Shanxi. With the support of Shanxi's sufficient funds, advanced equipment, and technology, Heilongjiang Province became a true granary, with large quantities of grain, agricultural by-products, livestock, poultry, fish, fur, mountain products, timber, and mineral products constantly being transported to Shanxi, greatly enriching the material life of the people of Shanxi and providing sufficient raw materials for Shanxi's light and heavy industries.
As a result, grain production in Shanxi is no longer so urgent. Since Heilongjiang Province does not produce cotton, the agricultural pattern of developing various crops such as cotton, hemp, fruit and vegetables as the main crop in suitable areas within Shanxi Province, supplemented by animal husbandry, aquaculture, forestry and other industries, has been formed. In addition to purchasing economic crops from neighboring Shaanxi, Zhili and Henan provinces, it fully meets the large demand for raw materials from local textile, chemical fiber, papermaking, food and other industries, as well as the daily needs of the people's lives.
In terms of grain production, the three central regions of Heilongjiang Province's state-run farms have a total development and utilization area that accounts for only a small proportion of the province's reserved land area, but the grain yield is already an astronomical figure. After deducting self-sufficiency, nearly half of the harvest can be freely allocated, such as strategic reserves, reprocessing, surrender to the national treasury, disaster relief, sales, etc. Calculated together with Shanxi's cotton production, the total amount of grain and cotton produced in both places can almost solve the food problem for nearly a quarter of the Qing Dynasty's population!
All this was made possible by the widespread application of good crop seeds, new fertilizers and pesticides, scientific and rational agricultural infrastructure, new agricultural machinery and agricultural aircraft, etc. Science and technology is the most direct manifestation of the primary productive forces!
Having a strong agriculture, the development of other fields has a foundation to stand on, and expansion becomes just a simple matter of time. After several modern industrial and agricultural centers such as Jinzhong, Jinbei, Jinnan in Shanxi Province and Mohe, Hulunbuir, Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province have formed in scale, through parliamentary discussions, the development work on the remaining areas of the two places has been stopped. The interior guard troops are stationed to strengthen the protection of these vast areas that still maintain good natural ecological areas, leaving them well for future generations.
In order to better maintain social order within the province and strengthen management in people's livelihood, the original patrol institutions and teams were reorganized into modern police agencies and police forces. A police school was established to train professionalized, knowledge-based, and standardized police officers and policemen. Qualified personnel were retained, unqualified personnel were eliminated, and new personnel were supplemented. Various institutions and systems that are more adaptable to social needs were established and perfected. New-style uniforms and equipment were also introduced: the uniform style was the same as that of the Shanxi Army, but with a dark blue coat, light blue shirt, and prominent multicolored police rank badges. Black soft-soled leather shoes were uniformly distributed. Depending on the tasks performed, they were equipped with batons, pistols, carbines, war horses, new-style horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles.
The focus of our future work will be to concentrate all resources and accelerate the prosperity of the above-mentioned central regions with utmost effort.
