The next day, the 1901 annual government work report meeting of the East China government was officially held in the large lecture hall of the administrative building. On behalf of the government, Wang Yunpeng, President of the Executive Yuan, made an annual summary report on the work of the government to the personnel of various departments and all the veteran legislators. It makes a comprehensive summary of all the work of the East China government in 1901, including part of the work in 1900, and also makes plans and arrangements for the work of the government in 1902.

The annual government work summary report is mainly divided into four major aspects: internal affairs, finance, foreign affairs, and military, of which internal affairs and finance are the mainstays, accounting for nearly seventy percent of the content of the entire [work summary report].

First of all, the goal set in 1901 was completed, the government and administrative organs of the traverser were formally formed, the electoral system was determined, and the first government leaders were elected through the election, which also put the development of the traversal group on the right track; Diplomatic autonomy and land reform in some areas have accumulated sufficient experience for future work, and a number of modern industrial enterprises have been established, laying the foundation for further industrialization.

On the fiscal side, the fiscal revenue in 1901 was 12,757,000 taels of silver, which of course was calculated by converting part of the grain into silver. This is a considerable figure, because for most of 1901, the traversers only occupied a small part of Tianjin, Qingdao, Weihai and Shandong, and in this era, the Qing court's annual fiscal revenue was only more than 80 million taels of silver, so the East China government controlled far less than the Qing court's annual fiscal revenue has reached about 1/7 of the Qing court's, which is of course a very rare achievement.

The reason for the high financial income of the traverser is mainly in three aspects, the first is the autonomy of the traverser in relation to taxes, in 1901, the customs tariff accounted for more than half, the original customs tariff of the Qing court was only 5%, and the traverser can set the price independently, and the average tariff formulated reached 18.2%, which is much higher than that of the Qing court, so although the import and export volume of goods in Tianjin Customs is less than half of the original Qing court, the tariff collected has exceeded the original.

The second is to formulate a perfect financial system and strict tax management, which has put an end to the local grassroots from getting their hands on it, and has also effectively increased the government's fiscal revenue. According to the research of some scholars in the old time and space, the actual tax expenses of the residents of the Qing court were about 4 times that of the fiscal revenue, and the other 3 times of them were exploited by the local grassroots officials from the middle level and filled their pockets.

Finally, there is another factor, although it is not the main reason, but it cannot be ignored, that is, the land reform has been basically implemented in the areas actually controlled by the traversers, and there is less exploitation by the landlords, so the actual expenses that the traversers can receive are much higher than those of the Qing court, but the expenses of the peasants are much less.

However, compared with other revenues, the fiscal revenue is really nothing, because the other revenues are as high as 122.6 million taels of silver, the bulk of which is the silver and other property plundered by the Eight-Nation Allied Forces in China confiscated in Beijing, but there are more than 90 million taels of silver in cash; in addition, after defeating the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, the weapons, equipment, and materials seized can be discounted by millions of taels of silver for a battleship; and then there are the ransom fees paid by various countries.

In 1901, the total financial expenditure of the East China government was as high as 32.15 million taels of silver, of which military expenditure accounted for more than 1,700 taels of silver. However, after filling the fiscal deficit, the East China government still has about 80 million taels of silver deposits, so the fiscal situation is still quite good.

In terms of foreign affairs, first of all, it helped the Chun court to sign relatively acceptable treaties in its negotiations with other countries, without losing its national sovereign interests, and also forced the other countries to formally recognize the existence of the East China government; at the same time, the East China government also temporarily reached a balance with the Qing court, and the Qing court basically acquiesced in the independent existence of Shandong. In addition, a positive image of the crosser as enlightened, impartial, honest, fearless of power, and daring to safeguard national interests has been initially established throughout the country, so it has basically won the recognition of the Chinese.

In terms of military affairs, it is to completely defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, defeat the Russian army moving south, and force all countries to end the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China, return to the negotiating table again, and accept the conditions of the crosser. At the same time, the construction of the army and navy of the People's Army has been preliminarily completed, and the security interests of the East China Government can be fully and effectively defended.

After the end of the report, the lecture hall suddenly resounded with warm applause, although everyone who attended the meeting knew that in the past year, the East China Government has made great achievements, but there is no comprehensive understanding, because the vast majority of people's work can only contact a part of the East China Government, and can understand the overall situation of the traverser is not many, now after listening to the annual summary report, I know that the East China Government has made great achievements, far beyond most people's imagination.

The morning meeting officially ended, and after lunch, the group rested for a while, and resumed the meeting at two o'clock in the afternoon, while the main content of the afternoon was to lay out the work plan and budget for 1902.

In 1902 the main task of the East China government was to stabilize the ruling base and to develop the economy as much as possible. First of all, it is necessary to take full and practical control over all areas of Shandong Province and establish a local administrative system; second, it is necessary to accomplish the task of land reform in Shandong Province, improve the peasants' livelihood, and develop agricultural production; further improve the government's organs, capacity, and army building; establish the East China Government's own financial system, and formally issue the East China Government in the second half of the year; and finally, it is necessary to launch the first year of the East China Government's five-year plan.

The 1902 budget was 40.18 million taels of silver, of which the investment in the first year of the five-year plan was about 12 million silver, and the military expenditure was 12.55 million silver, although no war was expected in 1902, but the construction of the army still had to continue, so the military expenditure accounted for about 30% of the total financial expenditure, which was a very high proportion, of course, this was a unique phenomenon at the beginning of the establishment of the government, with the stability of the rule, the proportion of military expenditure will gradually decrease. It is estimated that the government revenue in 1902 will be about 40 million silver, which can basically achieve a balance between revenue and expenditure.

However, after all, this is the first time that the East China government has made a budget, and it lacks the corresponding experience, so it still reserves 10 million silver in case of accidents.

Finally, a brief introduction to the content of the five-year plan, will be completed within 5 years, the construction of 45 projects, also known as the "Fourth Five-Year Project" includes 23 industrial projects, 15 infrastructure projects, 7 people's livelihood municipal public projects, is expected to complete the five-year plan, will need to invest 70 million to 80 million taels of silver.

Among them, industrial projects account for more than half, divided into 15 heavy industry projects and 8 light industry projects, indicating that the East China government has taken industrialization as the focus of this five-year plan, and after completing this five-year plan, it can basically build a preliminary industrial foundation and train a number of industrial workers. The equipment and technology required for each project can be rationally used with foreign equipment and technology, the principle is to first solve the problem, and on this basis, we will try our best to choose advanced technology and equipment, but after the introduction of technology, we must try to digest and absorb it, and after the end of this five-year plan, we will strive to introduce half of the equipment and technology can be solved by ourselves.

In addition to the Jiaoji Railway, two railways have also been planned, one is the Jiyan Railway from Jinan Dezhou to Yanzhou Tengxian County, with a total length of about 330 kilometers, and the other is the Qingpeng Railway connecting Qingdao, Weihai and Penglai, with a total length of about 380 kilometers; after the completion of these three railways, the total length of the railway in Shandong Province will reach 1,100 kilometers, and the railway network layout of Shandong Province will be initially formed. In addition to the railway, a highway will be built to connect the east and west of Shandong as an auxiliary railway.

Minsheng municipal public projects are mainly schools, farms, stadiums, etc.

Of course, the overall status of these 45 items, their allocation, etc., will be discussed item by item in the next few days' meetings, and will be voted on by the Senate.

As a result, the meeting lasted for 5 days before all 45 projects were determined, of which Qingdao won a total of 15 projects and became the biggest winner, but of these 15 projects, 8 of them are original or have been determined projects, including the Jiandao Arsenal, the Jiandao Shipyard, Qingdao port, power plant, iron and steel plant, Sifang locomotive factory, administrative area construction, etc., and the new 7 projects are machinery manufacturing plants, metallurgical plants, chemical plants, food processing plants, Shandong Highway, Qingpeng Railway, and a stadium. Qingdao's projects are mainly heavy industry, and some heavy industry projects are basically unique to Qingdao, which also fully reflects Qingdao's status as the capital.

Tianjin has won 10 projects, of which Tianjin shipyards, ports, textile mills, and schools are all confirmed projects, and new projects include power plants, cement plants, food processing plants, paper mills, tanneries, and paper mills. Most of them are light industry projects, which also reflects the characteristics of Tianjin's logistics economy.

Although Jinan has only won 8 projects, except for the Jiaoji Railway, the others are all new projects, including the Jiyan Railway, power plants, arsenals, textile mills, cement factories, farms, and schools, so it is not bad. Wang Sheng is also very satisfied with this result, these eight projects are very average, heavy and light industry, infrastructure construction, people's livelihood and municipal administration, and there is no bias to one aspect, not only can greatly promote the social and economic development of Jinan within the five years, and once the five-year plan is completed, it will be able to make Jinan's industrial level greatly advanced.

The Shanghai New Area, which has not yet been officially launched, has also been awarded three projects, namely a wharf, an administrative building for the new area, and another infrastructure project.

There are still seven projects that have not been determined for the time being, because the East China Group has not yet fully established effective rule over the whole province of Shandong, so it is not yet possible to determine the construction site of these seven projects.