Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 477 New Policy for the Reform of the Three Eastern Provinces
In March, the Qing government decided to reform the administrative system and local official system in the Northeast region.

The five assistant ministers of Shengjing were dismissed, the generals were abolished, and the three provinces of Fengtian, Jilin and Heilongjiang were established.

The Shengjing General was renamed the Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces, and was concurrently in charge of the affairs of the generals of the three provinces. He was the highest official in charge of military, political, and flag affairs of the three provinces, and built the Governor-General's office in Fengtian.

Xu Shichang was appointed as the first governor-general of the three northeastern provinces, and Zhao Erxun was transferred to be the governor-general of Sichuan. Each province had a governor-general as the head of the province.

Tang Shaoyi was the first governor of Fengtian, and Duan Zhigui was the governor of Heilongjiang.

Qu Shaoyang was originally a general of Jilin, and according to convention he should have been transferred elsewhere to serve as admiral or governor.

Because Xu Shichang had inspected the Northeast before and knew that Jilin was well governed, and the political environment in the Northeast was complex at the time, Qu Shaoyang had tough measures and was quite experienced in dealing with Tsarist Russia and Japan.

Therefore, Xu Shichang recommended that Qu Shaoyang remain as the governor of Jilin.

Because Duan Zhigui was impeached, the Qing court revoked Duan Zhigui's appointment as acting governor of Heilongjiang and appointed Cheng Dequan as temporary governor of Heilongjiang.

At this point, the special system that had been followed in the Northeast region for more than 200 years since the early Qing Dynasty, such as establishing generals but not provinces, and dual management of bannermen and civilians, was abolished.

All banner offices at all levels were abolished, and all bannermen were placed under the jurisdiction of the province.

The Jilin General was abolished, and the original general's office was changed into a provincial office, which had a Chengxuan Hall and a Advisory Hall.

The Chengxuan Hall was in charge of confidential information and the selection of officials. The Advisory Hall was in charge of seven departments (negotiation, flag affairs, civil affairs, education, finance, industry promotion, and Mongolian affairs).

Under the provinces, there were circuits, prefectures (directly affiliated departments and prefectures), and counties (scattered departments and subordinate prefectures), forming a four-level management system.

The general's office was changed into a provincial office, and all affairs had to be rearranged.

In addition, the governor of the three northeastern provinces was eager to change the status quo in the Northeast, and various people-friendly policies were promulgated one after another, so Qu Shaoyang and others were really busy for a while.

In late March, with the support of Qu Shaoyang, candidate Tongzhi Yue Ming'a raised 200,000 taels of silver to purchase a 250-kilowatt old generator from Siemens in Germany.

The first electric light factory, Baohua Electric Light Co., Ltd., was founded in Jilin City.

At the same time, Qu Shaoyang also petitioned for permission to establish a foreign language school, with Guiduo, the former editor of the Hanlin Academy, as the supervisor, and to recruit middle school students.

Teach five languages: English, French, Japanese, Russian and German, and cultivate translation talents.

This is the first multilingual foreign language school in Jilin Province.

On March 25, Han Dengju led his troops to Yanji Hall, and right after that, a group of Japanese water guards entered the Jiapigou gold mine without authorization and forced the Han family to cooperate with them in gold mining.

Fortunately, Han Dengju only took away a part of the militia forces, and the rest remained stationed in Jiapigou. The Han family sternly refused and assembled armed forces to guard the Jiapigou gold mine.

Immediately afterwards, the Japanese people Shibashiro, Toyama Mitsuru and others organized the Jiandao Expedition and claimed that they would occupy Jiapiqiao.

When Qu Shaoyang received the news, he reported it to the court and at the same time dispatched troops and sent 10,000 border troops to garrison Jiapiqiao.

Seeing this, the Japanese did not dare to attack easily and had to withdraw from Jiapiqiao.

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the new policy in the three northeastern provinces and maintain local security, the Qing court ordered the entire Third Army Regiment to go to the three northeastern provinces, and then drew infantry, artillery, and cavalry teams from the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Regiments, all of which were under the command of Governor Xu Shichang.

Zhang Tianzhi happened to be among those transferred to Fengtian to serve Xu Shichang as a military adviser.

Originally it was said that Wanyu and the children would be taken to Tianjin after spring came and flowers bloomed, but now there is no need to do that. We can just send someone directly to Fengtian.

The Qu family and the Chen family both had properties in Fengtian. They picked a house to clean up and settled Wanyu and her daughter there first.

In this way, Tianzhi's family of three reunited in Fengtian.

Qu Shaoyang was busy with the affairs of the provincial government all day long and had no time to take care of the affairs of the government.

Fortunately, Chen Xiuyun and Meng Lanxin managed the situation properly, and the mansion was not affected by the reform of the three northeastern provinces.

Anyway, no matter what name we use outside, life in the mansion goes on as usual.

Yang Chunhong gave birth to a girl in early March. This was the eleventh child of the Qu family. Chen Xiuyun named her Jiaxin.

At the end of March, Lin Yuhuan gave birth to a son and named him Zhenkai.

Yang Chunhong and Lin Yuhuan were in confinement after giving birth, and Chen Xiuyun was also five or six months pregnant.

Most of the affairs in the mansion were left to Meng Lanxin to handle, with Jialing, Zewen and Jingya assisting, and nothing went wrong.

On the sixth day of April, Han Dengju's wife Liu Fengzhi found the wife of Zhao Bingzhang, vice-president of the Jilin Chamber of Commerce, as a matchmaker and came to Qu Mansion to propose marriage to Han Xiutang, the eldest son of the Han family.

The marriage between the Qu and Han families had been decided long ago, and the proposal was just a formality. It went naturally very smoothly, and Chen Xiuyun nodded and agreed to the marriage.

After that, the Han family prepared gifts and formally started the marriage negotiation procedures including proposing marriage proposal, asking for the name, and accepting the marriage proposal.

The Han family got Jialing's birth certificate and asked someone to match her horoscopes, and the result was extremely auspicious.

So they quickly prepared gifts and went to Qu's house to announce the good news. Both sides looked up the almanac for a long time and finally decided to hold the betrothal ceremony in June, which is what the common people call engagement.

Qu Shaoyang was busy with the matters related to taking back the telegraph lines in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces from Tsarist Russia, so he left all the matters concerning his daughter's marriage to Chen Xiuyun.

"Well, June is fine too. You won't have given birth by then, so it's a good time to arrange a marriage for our daughter first, and it will save you from having to worry about these things while you are in confinement."

When Qu Shaoyang heard his wife say that they would arrange an engagement for their daughter in June, he nodded.

"Oh, there's something else I want to discuss with you.

I plan to expand our pharmaceutical factory. In addition, I also want to open two more branches in Fengtian and Andong. What do you think?"

Chen Xiuyun handed Qu Shaoyang a wet towel and asked him to wipe his face, and then discussed something with him.

Because of the previous exhibition in Beijing, the pharmaceutical factory's orders increased sharply and the original workshop was no longer sufficient.

That’s why Chen Xiuyun said that she wanted to expand the pharmaceutical factory and build two branches at the same time.

"Sure, that's no problem at all. I'll tell Fengtian later and arrange for someone to go over there."

Qu Shaoyang nodded in agreement without even thinking about it.

Now the Ji'an Railway and Jichang Railway have been opened to traffic, and the Anfeng Railway and Jiha Railway are also under intensive construction and are expected to be completed in autumn.

In addition, construction of the Harbin-Aihui railway has also begun.

Qu Shaoyang is thinking about building another railway from Jilin through Jiaohe, Dunhua, Yanji, Wangqing and Hunchun.

In this way, all parts of Jilin Province are connected by railways.

As transportation becomes more and more convenient in the future, it will be easy to manage no matter where we open a branch factory.

With the new policies in the three northeastern provinces, the imperial court has introduced many people-friendly policies, which is a good opportunity to develop industry.

Moreover, in the next twenty years or so, the three northeastern provinces will be relatively stable, unlike the southern provinces, where warlords are fighting and the people are living in misery.

We should indeed seize this opportunity to expand factories, vigorously develop national enterprises, and lay a solid foundation for the future.

The couple agreed and immediately decided to set up a branch factory.

So the next day, Qu Shaoyang sent news to Fengtian and Andong, and then sent Xingye and others over to prepare for matters related to the branch factory.

In May, Jilin Province established an Engineering Bureau to be responsible for projects such as government offices, military camps, schools, and roads, and formed an engineering team to handle various important projects.

The first thing the Engineering Bureau did after its establishment was to build roads. If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. This is an eternal truth.

Currently, only a few major provincial capitals in Jilin Province have accessible roads. In remote counties and cities, high mountains block the roads and make travel difficult. Even if there are many good things, they cannot be transported out.

If roads are blocked, people’s lives will be affected, so the first thing to do is to build roads.

To this end, the provincial government has specially allocated funds and assigned special personnel to supervise to ensure that the funds are used for their intended purposes.

In addition to building roads, Jilin Province also vigorously developed agriculture and recruited refugees to reclaim wasteland.

During the early spring period alone, more than 500,000 mu of wasteland were surveyed and reclaimed, and the treasury received more than 300,000 taels of silver as land value.

With Qu Shaoyang's initiative and support, some gentry and wealthy businessmen united to open agricultural reclamation companies in Changchun, Nong'an, Jiutai, Dehui, Fuyu and other places.

Fire plows, which are basic versions of agricultural tractors, were imported from abroad to carry out reclamation operations.

The Songliao Plain is flat and open. Agricultural reclamation companies purchase large tracts of wasteland and directly reclaim them using machinery, which is very efficient.

To this end, the Jilin Machinery Bureau also established a special agricultural machinery research department to design and manufacture agricultural tools according to actual needs.

The establishment of the agricultural reclamation company has allowed many people to experience the convenience of mechanized farming.

Some landowners could not afford to buy fire plows, so they asked the agricultural reclamation company for a lease, and the two sides reached a cooperation agreement.

Building railways, agricultural reclamation, various engineering construction projects, and machinery manufacturing all require large amounts of steel.

The output of Tonghua Iron and Steel Plant was obviously insufficient to meet demand, so two branch plants were built in Jilin and Panshi.

Other factories such as lime plants, cement plants, glass products factories, etc., also expanded or built branches.

As the number of factories increased, the demand for coal also increased exponentially.

In order to encourage merchants from all over the country to come to the Northeast to open mines, Qu Shaoyang joined forces with the governors of three provinces to petition the court to allow the reduction or exemption of relevant taxes such as mining and setting up wells in order to prosper the Northeast economy.

With the implementation of various new policies, Tieling Dataishan Coal Mine, Liaoyang Kangjiadonggou Coal Mine, Xingjing Majiazi Coal Mine, Xiuyan Luojiaxigou Coal Mine and others have started mining one after another.

The sixth day of June was the date agreed upon in advance by the Han and Qu families for Han Xiutang and Qu Jialing to get engaged.

The Han family has been operating the Jiapigou gold mine for three generations and is known as the Gold King among the people. They can be said to be the local emperors in the Nanshan area of ​​Jilin and are extremely wealthy.

Han Dengju is now the garrison commander of Yanbian, a fourth-rank official.

Not to mention Qu Shaoyang, he was a governor with the title of deputy governor-general, with a large number of troops under his command. His status was second only to the governor-general of the three northeastern provinces. It can be said that he was in a high position of power.

Han Xiutang is the eldest son of the Han family's eldest branch, and Qu Jialing is the governor's daughter. How could their engagement ceremony be simple?
On the morning of the sixth day, Han Xiutang, dressed in new clothes, accompanied by her parents, uncle, aunt and matchmaker, came to Qu's house with 88 loads of betrothal gifts and music.

In addition to the necessary wild geese, wedding tea, wedding cakes, wine and meat for engagement, the betrothal gifts also included a set of head jewelry inlaid with red gold and rubies, and a set of jewelry made of white jade, jadeite, red jade, black jade and South pearls.

There were dozens of rolls of brocade fabrics of various colors, and dozens of pieces of white fox fur, sable fur, etc.

In addition, the Han family also prepared 160 taels of gold and 6,600 taels of silver.

It can be said that this betrothal gift gave enough face to the Qu family and also showed the sincerity of the Han family.

Having known the news long ago, Chen Yunzhe and his wife, Chen Yunhan and his wife, as well as Tianzhi and his wife, who had arrived early, were waiting in Qu's house.

Qu Shaoyang did not go to the provincial government office either, but took a special leave to stay at home.

The Qu family had already arranged people to guard outside. When they saw the Han family from afar, they hurried back to the mansion to report the news.

Tianzhi and his wife brought people out to greet them and welcomed the Han family into the front hall.

The Chen Yunzhe brothers had met Han Dengju several times before, and now that the two families have become relatives, it is natural that they feel very cordial when they meet again.

After a few pleasantries, the host and guest took their seats, and the maid served them tea and snacks.

Next, the matchmaker presented the Han family's betrothal gift list, took Han Xiutang and Qu Jialing's engagement letters, and wrote the marriage certificate.

In addition to the names of the man and woman, their birth dates, etc., the marriage certificate also needs to include the names of the matchmaker, the master of ceremonies, and the parents of both parties.

The marriage certificate is made in duplicate, and both the man and the woman must sign and seal it, and then each keeps one copy for safekeeping.

The marriage certificate must be registered with the government office to be legally binding. This is no joke.

After the betrothal gifts have been given and the marriage certificate has been written, the engagement ceremony is almost complete.

Afterwards, the woman’s family will prepare a sumptuous banquet to entertain the man’s relatives and the matchmaker.

If it is a small family, at least one or two dishes in the engagement banquet must be cooked by the engaged girl herself.

Of course, for a family as big as the Qu family, Jialing doesn't have to do anything herself. She is only responsible for standing in the kitchen and talking.

A sumptuous banquet was placed on the table and everyone took their seats.

As the protagonist of today's engagement, Han Xiutang quickly poured wine for the elders present, first toasting Chen Yunzhe and Chen Yunhan, and then Qu Shaoyang.

"Xiu Tang, from today on, you are our son-in-law, and I treat you as my own child.

Jialing is my first daughter. She has been spoiled since she was young and is inevitably a little willful and naughty.

I hope you can be more tolerant in the future. If she does anything wrong, you can tell me and Jialing's mother and we will discipline her."

Qu Shaoyang asked Han Xiutang to sit next to him, then patted Han Xiutang on the shoulder and said.

"Jia Ling is good in every way in my eyes. Please rest assured, father-in-law, I will always put her first and treat her well with all my heart."

Once you're engaged, you're a family and any name you call them is reasonable.

Han Xiutang was also a smart guy. He directly called him father-in-law instead of uncle.

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, he laughed happily.

"Okay, okay, good kid, I was right about you. From now on, this is your home. Come over whenever you want. Don't be so formal."

Han Xiutang was a little embarrassed and nodded with a red face. "Hey, thank you, father-in-law."

When everyone heard this, they burst into laughter again.

Over there, Zhenye saw Han Xiutang feeling uncomfortable sitting among the elders, so he came over and called Xiutang away to sit at the same table with them.

"Brother, this is what I'm thinking. In two years, I plan to send Zhenye, Zhenwu, Zhenjie and others to study abroad.

Xiutang and Jintang are both good students. If you like, you can send them abroad together.

No matter what, let the children go abroad to broaden their horizons and learn some skills, don't you think? "

Now that the Han and Qu families are married, Han Xiutang is the son-in-law of the Qu family. A son-in-law is half a son, so Qu Shaoyang must also make plans for his son-in-law.

I haven't mentioned it before, but today I'll take this opportunity to bring it up.

"Oh, that's great, dear, you can arrange this matter, just tell me how much money you need."

Han Dengju was extremely happy when he heard this. This was a good opportunity that many people had been trying their best to get but couldn't find a way to get. How could he not be happy?
(End of this chapter)