The Ministry of Administration is very satisfied with the preparations of the Navy and the Army, but the preparation for war is not only at the military level, but also at the economic level, because after all, fighting a war is, to a certain extent, burning money.

In 1903, the fiscal revenue of the East China government reached 121.5 million silver dollars, an increase of more than 40%, which was about 85 million taels of silver, and in 1903, the fiscal revenue of the Qing court was only 93 million taels.

The high fiscal revenue of the East China government in 1903 was mainly due to three reasons: first, the Russo-Japanese War, because Japan ordered a large number of materials from the East China government, but they all had to be paid with real money, which not only directly increased the income of the East China government, but also stimulated the development of the manufacturing industry of the East China government, and indirectly further promoted the development of the manufacturing industry of the East China governmentAt this time, a total of more than 500 overseas Chinese in Nanyang invested in Shandong to build factories, set up more than 800 enterprises, shops, etc., with a total asset of more than 3,000 silver dollars, which not only greatly promoted the economic development of the East China government, but also provided a large number of employment opportunities, and the number of new jobs reached more than 50,000, which further expanded the number of workers in the East China government, which is of great significance to promote the industrial development of the East China government.

Finally, the East China government's preparations for war require the purchase of a large number of materials, which can also stimulate the development of the manufacturing industry, and at the same time, it must also produce and build a large number of warships, guns and other weapons, which can promote the development of heavy industry.

Stimulated by these three factors, the economic development of the East China government increased greatly in 1904, which naturally led to the increase of government revenue.

Of course, it is far from enough to rely on the financial revenue of the East China government alone, and since the Russo-Japanese War has been fought, Japan has paid about 1.5 billion yen, or about 170 million pounds, for the war, while Russia has spent nearly 4 billion rubles, or 450 million pounds, in the war expenses.

At this point, the East China government and Japan were almost the same, and most of the expenses for preparing for war came from bond revenues, and in early 1904, the East China government was in Germany, The United States has issued bonds worth about 15 million pounds each, Germany has bought more than 13 million pounds, and the United States has bought almost 10 million pounds, and on the whole, the sales of bonds are good, and nearly 80% of the bonds have been bought, but because some of the bonds are sold at less than par value, the actual amount raised is now close to 22 million pounds.

The main reason for the relatively good sales of bonds is that Japan has always won the war, and although the East China Government's statement at the beginning of the war was aimed at both Japan and Russia, the East China Government was relatively close to Japan before the start of the war, and after the start of the war, the East China Government was generally biased towards the Japanese side, because it intercepted the scattered warships of the Russian army, and in the eyes of foreign countries, it was obviously helping Japan, although only Japan did not see it that way. If the East China Government enters the war again, Russia will basically have no hope of reversing the situation, and can only compromise with Japan and the East China Government, which will inevitably give up a lot of interests, so whether it is Japan or the East China Government's debts, they are all worth pursuing.

However, the East China government has not yet entered the war, so the sales of bonds are still not as good as those in Japan. Since it is in the United States, although the United States is now the second largest trading partner of the East China government, but the level of trade is relatively low, the trade between the two sides is mainly the East China government imports products and technology from the United States, and the United States imports mainly resources and minerals from China, so in the United States, there is not much understanding of the East China government, and Japan has issued more than 30 million pounds of bonds in the United States, which has also squeezed the bond sales of the East China government.

Most of the bonds issued by the East China government in the United States were purchased by Jewish conglomerates. At this time, Russia was the most anti-Jewish country, and from August 27 to September 7, 1903, the St. Petersburg newspaper Banner serialized a series of articles entitled "The Jewish Plan for World Control." The newspaper said that the original title of this document was "Minutes of the Meeting of the World Alliance of Freemasons and Presbyterians of Zion", which was later known as the "Minutes of the Presbyterian Conference of Zion", which was the minutes of a secret meeting of a group of so-called Jewish Zion elders who conspired to seize world power and control all mankind. It became the most important document of the anti-Semitic movement in later generations, and the progenitor document of all the Masonic conspiracy theories.

Russia also used this as an excuse to severely oppress the Jews in Russia, but at this time, the Jewish consortium dominated the economic circles of Britain and the United States, and because it was the dominant financial industry, it was eager for a state to stand up and suppress Russia, promote changes in Russia, and improve the status of Russian Jews.

After the bad relations between Japan and Russia, they received strong funding from the British and American Jewish consortia such as Rothschild, Cassel and Schaeffer, and also gave some support to the East China government, after all, it is always a good thing to have one more government to resist Russia, and a few million pounds is nothing to the Jewish conglomerate, not to mention the probability of profit.

However, the sales of bonds are obviously much better in Germany, which is not a major fundraiser for Japan, and over the past few years, the East China Government has always had deep cooperation with Germany in military technology, and has already ordered five warships in Germany, and the materials and accessories for warships built in China are basically imported from Germany, so it has established relatively good relations with many German manufacturers, and it also has a considerable reputation in Germany's industrial and commercial and business circles. Several shipyards, as well as the Knoob company, have subscribed a lot of the bonds issued this time.

It is precisely because of the relatively good situation in the issuance of bonds that the East China Government has sufficient funds to prepare for war, and the two arsenals in Qingdao and Jinan are also operating at full capacity for production, and now the People's Army has more than 4,000 artillery pieces of various types, more than 8,000 mortars, and more than 30 million rounds of artillery shells of various types, and about 50,000 rounds of artillery shells per month.

In addition to weapons, the East China Government has prepared more than 60,000 horses, donkeys, mules, and other livestock, more than 12,000 wagons, and more than 25,000 trolleys; it has stockpiled 5 million tons of various grains, 700,000 tons of materials, 300,000 tons of salt, and 500,000 tons of medicines; more than 80,000 tents, more than 600,000 pieces of cotton clothing, more than 1.2 million pairs of gloves, more than 800,000 pairs of leather shoes, and 1 million sets of marching covers.

In terms of transportation capacity, the Huanshan Railway will be completed in its entirety, and the total tonnage of cargo ships will reach 220,000 tons, which can greatly speed up the flow of materials on both land and sea lines.

Of course, the preparations for the war also included intelligence work, when the Japanese army besieged Lushun, the intelligence base in Lushun lost contact with the outside, and could only contact Qingdao directly, after the Japanese occupied Lushun, the contact was restored, and the East China government's two shops in Lushun City reopened for business, and the Japanese army also returned some of the requisitioned materials to the shops.

At present, the East China government has also set up one shop in the city of Shenyang, which can be used to communicate with Qingdao by radio, and in addition, there are also seven strongholds in the villages between Lushun and Shenyang, and three material preparation points, the main preparations are grain, forage and a small amount of medicine and cloth, although they are not much, but after the East China government enters the war, it can still meet the emergency needs for 10 days or 8 days.

The Executive Yuan was very satisfied with the preparations in all aspects, and the time of the year was indeed not wasted, Xia Bohai said: "What is the current situation in Japan and Russia. ”

Shang Qisong said: "Japan is still like that, the country is either celebrating or laying a shrine, and then welcoming the army that returns to China. However, after the Japanese army conquered Lushun, it was indeed a huge agitation for the country, and it was also a shot in the arm for the people's sentiment, which further raised the sentiment of support for the war in Japan. Unless it is a big defeat on the battlefield. As for the situation in Russia, we have received information from Germany, according to the German news, the loss of Arthur has not had any effect on Russia, of course, mainly on the upper classes, and the majority of public opinion is still convinced that Russia can achieve a final victory, and is still optimistic about the future of the war, and the capital, St. Petersburg, as usual, the upper classes are still feasting and the theater is full. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "This is normal, we can't expect the situation in Japan to affect the war, and the upper class in Russia is still drunk and dreaming of death." However, Japan returned all the requisitioned materials from the shops in Lushun, which is a bit interesting, and there must be something to ask for people, and I am afraid that there will be something to do. ”

Wang Yunpeng said: "What can there be, do you want us to send troops?"

Qin Zheng said: "This is definitely impossible, now that Japan has just captured Lushun and annihilated the Pacific Fleet, the situation is very good, how can it be possible to invite us to send troops at this time?"

Xia Bohai said: "I think it is probably because Japan wants to regret it now, and at this time Japan may think that it can win this battle independently, so it hopes to persuade us to cancel the plan to enter the war." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "Then what should we do? Will we completely fall out with Japan now?"

Qin Zheng said: "I don't think it's time to fall out with Japan, and although Japan doesn't want us to participate in the war now, it may not want to completely fall out with us, Bi Jing has not really won yet, whether it is attacking Shenyang or facing the Second Pacific Fleet, it is a tough battle, and it is not good for Japan to fall out with us at this time, Bi Jing This is not a reason for Japan, they return the requisitioned materials of the shops, they are showing goodwill to us." ”