Chapter Thirty: Cooperative Society

  In Tokyo, Japan, the lights were on in the Navy Department building, and many combat and staff personnel were coming and going like worker bees, transmitting various orders and telegrams. The Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, sat solemnly at his desk, with a staff officer reporting to him.

  "Is there still no news about the Taiwanese fleet being dispatched?" asked Di Ping with a low voice.

  "Yes, none since the fleet left Nagasaki five days ago." The staff officer stood at attention, answering briefly and clearly.

  "Is there any news from the army?" asked You Rong, continuing his inquiry.

  "I just called and confirmed with the Ministry of Land and Army, there is no news."

  "Has a ship been sent to make contact yet?"

  "Yes, the Ryukyu side has already dispatched search vessels and searched around the Taiwan Strait."

  "Prepare the carriage, I'm going to the Ministry of War." said Di Jing with a nod.

  Days after the disappearance of the Japanese landing fleet, neither the Japanese Navy nor the Army realized that something unexpected might have happened to this unit, but instead handled it as a communication failure. Three waves of ships were sent one after another to search for Taiwan waters, not only failed to contact the missing landing fleet, but also lost contact with the searching ships.

  It wasn't until June 14 that the Japanese military realized something was amiss, and that these 20-plus ships and more than 8,000 people might have met with an accident. But looking around all of Asia, aside from the British, French, and Germans having a few decent warships, who else could annihilate a mid-sized fleet with two cruisers and three destroyers? The Japanese Navy racked their brains but couldn't think of anyone, so in the end they could only blame the weather. According to their judgment, there must have been sudden typhoons or other severe weather that caused the landing fleet to go off course or run aground.

  However, there were also insightful people. Several staff members of the Navy Department linked the disappearance of those merchant ships in the Taiwan Strait at the beginning of the war to a mysterious force that should still exist near Taiwan. But as soon as this statement was made, it was ridiculed by most people in the Navy Department. What a joke! The Qing Dynasty now has only the South China Sea Fleet and several old ships that can barely be called cruisers and some mosquito boats. Which sea power can annihilate an entire medium-sized fleet? If it were the British, French, and Germans working together, it might be possible, but basically, there is no such possibility.

  Since the analysis did not come out, let's just wait until autumn 1895, Japan did not send another fleet to occupy Taiwan. It was not that the Japanese did not want to send people, but after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Combined Fleet also suffered significant losses, and most of its main ships were damaged. There was still the need to occupy the Liaodong Peninsula, so they had to dispatch usable ships to the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea first, and Taiwan was temporarily neglected. By the end of 1895, the Japanese government officially announced that the fleet landing in Taiwan encountered a rare storm on the west side of the Ryukyu Islands, resulting in over 8,000 casualties among the land and sea military officers, including the first Governor-General of Taiwan, Kabayama Sukenori, and Prince Kitashirakawa-no-miya Yoshihisa.

  Taiwan welcomed a brief peace, but this peace was not quiet. First, the British, French and German governments all refused to recognize the newly declared independent government of Taiwan. Secondly, under pressure from Japan, the Qing imperial court dispatched Li Hongzhang's son, Li Jingfang, as an envoy to come to Taiwan for negotiations on withdrawing troops and surrendering.

  For Liu Wei, it didn't matter who the Qing government sent, as long as someone came to respond. However, if Britain, France, and Germany refused to recognize them, it would be a bit troublesome. Many war materials and goods could not be imported or exported from their occupied territories, which was a significant blow to Taiwan's military industry. Fortunately, the US government did not rush to refuse recognition this time, but neither did they acknowledge it, instead quietly observing from the sidelines. This outcome should be the result of David's lobbying efforts in the United States.

  Taking advantage of the fact that a complete embargo had not yet been imposed, Liu Ye reduced the price of Taiwan's white sugar, camphor and other agricultural products to export them in large quantities to foreign merchants. He converted the money earned from this as well as from selling refrigerators in the United States into strategic materials that were in short supply in Taiwan, which were continuously transported to Taiwan from various countries. In addition, submarines were dispatched to escort the fleet of the "Helen" shipping company, which was transporting ore from Qiongzhou Prefecture to Taiwan, to prevent the British or French from suddenly changing their minds.

  Due to the news blockade of the 530 naval battle, the Taiwanese people did not know about the annihilation of the Japanese landing fleet and thought that the post-independence government had reached some kind of agreement with Japan. Anyway, the Japanese didn't come, so this achievement should be attributed to the new government.

  As for the government's practice of reducing prices for exporting white sugar and camphor, there was not much resistance. After all, the new government had just been established, and no one recognized it, so they had to give others some benefits in order to get their recognition. Using white sugar and camphor to bribe foreigners and make friends was also a good thing.

  Moreover, although the prices were low, the quantities were large, and they didn't lose much more than before when each household exported on its own. Even if there were a few unwilling landlords and merchants, after seeing that several households who wanted to secretly go out to sea to smuggle goods could no longer be seen, they could only complain privately and did not dare to make any excessive moves.

  Liu Bo strengthened the patrol in the waters near Taiwan and increased the reserve of various materials to cope with the larger battles that may occur in the future. At the same time, he started a cooperative farm experiment on the island of Taiwan. The first batch of experimental bases was set up in Yilan County, adjacent to Keelung.

  Yilan is located in the northeastern corner of Taiwan, a alluvial plain surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea. The area is influenced by the northeast monsoon, with abundant rainfall and many rivers, making it an ideal place for growing rice.

  The population of Yilan is less than 150,000, mainly consisting of the local Pingpu tribe and later immigrants from China. In recent years, due to Keelung's vigorous development and construction, many young and middle-aged people have gone to work in Keelung, causing Yilan's agriculture to stagnate.

  Liu's plan was to follow the model of rural cooperatives in later times, with several or dozens of households using simple machinery to replace animal and human power, concentrating on planting a large area of land to increase grain yields and reduce labor intensity.

  First of all, it is the land issue. Due to the relatively late development of the local area, the consolidation of land was not very severe. Liu Ye planned to adopt a redemption approach to provide arable land for farmers without land. The specific method is that the government pays money to buy land from landlords at market price and then sells it to farmers without land, and forms cooperatives of different sizes according to the location of the land.

  The money for buying land, machinery and seeds is provided by the government through loans. After harvesting, the borrower repays part of the loan with grain and clears the loan within a specified period. After clearing the loan, the land and machinery become collectively owned by the cooperative, while the cooperative's land cannot be freely bought and sold, only purchased by the government, and private transactions are not allowed.

  This policy not only solved the problem of land annexation, but also increased production efficiency and cost, liberated part of the labor force, and united most of the poorer people at the bottom. As long as it is a new policy, there will be different voices. This cooperative system was welcomed by most of the poor and recognized by some middle-income earners, but opposed by some landlords. For the new government, opposition is acceptable, and Liu also didn't plan to respond to every call, but to oppose with actual actions exceeded Liu's tolerance. As for solving this contradiction, Liu also had no good ideas, so let's just go with the shock troops, killing one to warn a hundred is the simplest and most effective method.

  Apart from the experimental cooperative, Liu also established a free nine-year education system in Taipei, Keelung, I-lan and Hsin-chu. All school-age children had to attend school, with expenses paid by the government.

  The implementation of the new policy also produced a number of new departments, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education, and the Bank. The first Minister of Agriculture was Lin Hansheng, the original county official of Yilan County, who voluntarily stayed in Taiwan during the Great Purge and was reinstated as a county official after being vetted. Lin Hansheng's governance was relatively clean and efficient, and he handled conflicts between local ethnic minorities and Han people well, earning him recognition from Liu E, who promoted him to the Ministry of Agriculture.

  The first Minister of Education was a foreigner, Tom Jones, one of the three American college students who sold sewing machines to Liu Xiang. After the end of his three-year contract, he did not return to the United States with his companions, but continued to stay in Taipei Primary School as the principal. This time he was appointed Minister of Education.

  The first president of the bank was a woman, and she was an acquaintance, namely David's second wife, Helena Amalia. This German noblewoman, after following David all over Europe and America, developed a liking for finance and helped David with many business problems. When Liu asked David about banking matters, his wife volunteered to use her connections with Sandru as bait to persuade David to recommend her to Liu. Liu was very moved, this was indeed a case of "offering one's wife and child".