The hallmarks of modern industrial level are the production of steel and coal. By the beginning of 1919, Tohoku accounted for 85 percent and 82 percent of the country's total output, respectively, 10 percent and 15 percent of Japan's output during the same period, and an increase of 28 percent and 35 percent, respectively, over the pre-Tohoku New Deal.

These figures are dynamic and positive, because according to the news from the intelligence headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army, several more 10-million-ton iron ore and coal mines are being discovered in Heilongjiang---- in fact, this data is not reliable, Zhang Hanqing wisely chose to lower these figures.

After nearly one and a half years of hard work, the Pingqi line was completed and officially opened to traffic in early 1919, and a new branch line of the North Manchurian Railway was extended from Harbin to the northeast along the Songhua River to Jiamusi is also in the process of acceptance. So far, the northeast of Jilin and Heilongjiang Province traffic arteries extend in all directions, which has greatly enhanced the economic development of the Songhua River Basin.

The reason why this big move can be completed at a time when financial resources are obviously insufficient is that the people along the railway line have contributed a lot. In order to solve the problem of serious shortage of funds, Zhang Hanqing issued railway coupons. In addition to meeting the daily necessities of daily life, the rest of the coupon is agreed to be cashed after three years, which greatly saves cash flow. At first, the poor people were not too interested in this coupon, but after the working group sent by the People's Party went to the countryside to publicize it, the peasants, who had developed trust in the government because of the land allocation, preferred to believe that it was true.

In addition, attracted by the ability to reduce the ration of one laborer, millions of migrant workers can be seen busy on the railway line during the leisure time. At that time, the transportation conditions were extremely backward, and all the sleepers, rails, and even the cornerstones used to build the railway were pulled from the muddy and difficult fields by very primitive trolleys. ”

Since these places were not in Japan's traditional sphere of influence, the Zhang family and his son were relieved and bold to start building infrastructure, but the construction of Mukden Province lagged behind that of Kyrgyzstan and Hei Province. With the gradual decline of Soviet Russia's power, Zhang Zuolin actually gained much more strength than in the same period in official history.

With the acceleration of urbanization, Harbin has sprung up and has shown great radiation and influence as a provincial capital and an important node of the Middle East Road. By the late 20s and early 30s, Harbin was already the second largest international metropolis in Asia, second only to Tokyo and much stronger than Shanghai. There are 34 foreign banks that have opened branches here, and have direct business contacts with international financial centers such as Paris and New York. At one time, there were 1,809 foreign commercial establishments in Harbin.

Thanks to the efforts of the "Planning Commission of the Three Eastern Provinces," which Zhang Hanqing personally took charge, the national economic operation, transportation, and industrial construction of the three eastern provinces are many times stronger than in the official history. All kinds of feedback show that the efforts of the Feng government have accelerated the development of Northeast China.

Politically, the People's Party (PBP) chaired by Zhang Hanqing made great progress, established party offices in various localities like mushrooms after a rain, and with the support of Zhang Zuolin and others, took control of the parliaments of the three northeastern provinces, becoming a decisive political force. The People's Party's reliance officially became three associations: the peasant association, the chamber of commerce, and the parliament. the peasant association, with the "Northeast Land Reform Committee" as the framework; The Chamber of Commerce, based on official and business capital such as Zhang Zuolin and Yu Aozhou, has even become the richest man in Northeast China; The parliament is completely controlled by the People's Party, because the nomination power of the parliamentarians falls into the hands of chambers of commerce, peasant associations, and governments at all levels.

Although Zhang Zuolin, who believed in "political power from the barrel of a gun," did not really understand the abilities and roles of these "talents" at first, when the laurels of "boiled leader" and "enlightened commander" were completely worn on his head, his support for the People's Party was stronger than ever. Compared with his original form of government, which was based on the alliance of soldiers and gentlemen, the political management model proposed by the People's Party can more effectively get rid of the dictatorship of the military---- and the military is not in the scope of political management at all, but is subordinated to politics, which is a kind of healthy administration.

He was once the honorary chairman of the BJP as a gesture, but now he has become a member of the party's Central Standing Committee. With a gun in hand, he was able to speak in public about the benefits of cooking: whatever he wanted to do, he did in the name of the council; Whenever he is not satisfied with the central government's policy decision, he can also justifiably and justly block the decree with the reason that "it goes against the will of the people of the three eastern provinces." He really tasted the benefits of partisan politics, and this soft knife looked much better than the one who opposed it by force.

Of course, the BJP has still failed to live up to its expectations of a party-run government, but that is only in form. At present, the tentacles of the BJP have penetrated into every corner of the three eastern provinces, and more than 30 percent of government officials, especially high-level officials, have joined the BJP. Two overseers, Zhang Zuolin and Sun Liechen, became the new members of the Central Standing Committee.

Due to the establishment of the arsenal, the Feng army became the only army in China at that time with its own production of artillery and artillery shells, because of the independence of artillery production, the Feng army has a large number of artillery, fierce firepower, and sufficient shells, becoming an advantageous branch of the army compared with other warlord troops.

Zhang Hanqing tried his best to improve his ties with Britain and the United States, and with the contacts of Zhang Zuolin's British adviser Iago, his foreign friend Pride, and his brother Gu Weijun, he expressed goodwill with Edwin Conger, the US minister to Beijing, and hoped that the United States would actively invest in its advantages in machinery manufacturing, tires, shipbuilding, and chemical industry, so as to contain Japan's excessive economic strength in Northeast China.

I don't know whether it was inspired by Zhang Hanqing's reform in the northeast, or whether the world situation had evolved towards partisan politics, and the reform of the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1919 also changed significantly: the Kwantung Governor's Office was abolished, the Kwantung Office with less authority was reorganized, the Kwantung Army was established, and the military and government were also separated.

The first commander of the Kwantung Army was Lieutenant General Koichiro Tachibana, with its headquarters in Lushun, commanding all Japanese units stationed in northeast China, and under its jurisdiction there was one army division, six independent garrison battalions, Lushun heavy artillery battalions and gendarmerie, as well as a large road protection force, numbering about 40,000, directly subordinate to the emperor. Compared with Zhang Zuolin's strength, the Japanese Kwantung Army is undoubtedly much worse, which is one of the reasons why the Japanese cannot effectively control the reform of the Northeast Autonomous Government.

Of course, there will be contradictions, and if there are contradictions, there will be conflicts, and the weak Feng system as a whole will inevitably suffer, which is determined by national strength. However, under the strict defense of Zhang Zuolin and his son, it was difficult for Japan to make a big breakthrough in infiltrating Mukden, which was difficult to imagine under the conditions at that time.

Zhang Hanqing is familiar with history and knows that this period of time is actually an important reason for the end of China's modern times: the Zhiwan War, the two Zhifeng Wars, and the later Northern Expedition and the Central Plains War exhausted what little strength China still had. Historically, the Central Plains War had just passed, and there was no respite, and the September 18 incident easily occupied the Northeast with the best industry in China at that time.

(Author's note: According to the official history, the level of industrialization in Northeast China had surpassed that of the Yangtze River basin at the end of the 20s, and the new policy of Zhang's father and son made the national industry and commerce in Northeast China a threat to the economy of Japan's Manchurian/Iron dependent territories, which became the economic incentive for the September 18 Incident. In 1931, the urbanization level of Manchuria ---- that is, the three eastern provinces was 11.5%, and in 1942 it reached 23.8%, while the urbanization level of the whole of China only reached 18.96% in 1990, after about 15 years of construction---- mainly the industrial base and resources of Northeast China, Manchuria surpassed Japan in industrial scale in 1945 and became the largest industrial body in Asia.

It's just that after Japan's defeat, the Soviet army looted the Northeast, leaving less than one percent of New China---- Soviet Army dismantled and transported most of the factories, mines, power stations and other materials in the Northeast back to China, and even the office chairs in the Dalian factory were not spared, and the trains transporting equipment and materials were non-stop day and night for seven months from September 1945. Even so, the Northeast is still the "cradle of industry" in New China! ----Excerpt from Mr. Qu Xiaofan's "Historical Changes in Modern Northeast Cities")

If we can replace our industrial capacity with military capacity and arm it to the fullest, will we be able to completely make Japan die of attacking China? The answer is yes.

This is because until the 20s of this century, China's comprehensive national strength was far stronger than Japan's, and Japan still had a "feeling" for China. The reason why Japan sent so many "China experts" to collect all-round intelligence was because at this time, although they had the idea of "going north", they did not dare to believe their own strength.

Even Ishihara, Japan's most famous military strategist, who masterminded the "Manchurian Incident" (as the Japanese call it for the "September 18 Incident"), established Manchukuo, and kicked off the "15-Year War," repeatedly stressed: "If we enter a state of war, it will be a long-term and protracted war, and it is a great mistake to 'punish China and the Kuomintang regime will collapse within a few months, so only a short-term decisive battle is needed.'" Until the Meiji Restoration, China was feared as an advanced country in Asia, and the Japanese, after their victory over China in the First Sino-Japanese War, looked down on China as an aging country. China has a high degree of civilization since ancient times, and its material life is extremely primitive, and various localities have a high degree of self-sufficiency, all of which have become extremely favorable conditions for protracted warfare. If there is a war, it is possible to force China to fight a decisive battle, but whether it will turn into a protracted war depends mainly on China's intentions. Therefore, he strongly advocated the Great Migration of the Kwantung Province based in Manchuria.

Zhang Hanqing has always doubted that if Japan does not take Northeast China easily on September 18, it is still unknown whether he will have the courage and ability to attack China in an all-out way. He has always believed that once Japan hits a hard nail in the northeast, even if it is in a stalemate, will history go in the other direction? And the possibility of this ending can be seen in the "Battle of Nomenkan" that took place in the official history.

On the eve of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1939, Japan attempted a military occupation of the Far East, but was met head-on by General Zhukov. From then until the end of World War II, even at the most difficult and critical time for the Soviet Union on the Western front, Japan did not dare to start a new war on the Eastern Front, although Japan concluded a treaty of alliance with Germany.

So Japan is a vicious wolf, and when it comes across sheep, of course, it has to feast on it. If China is a rhinoceros, the wolf must avoid its two horns. And if China is a lion, with Japan's national character, although it will be unwilling, it can only pretend to be a dog with its tail between its legs---- and the Japanese in the history of the Japanese against the victorious United States is enough to prove everything.

It's just that with the current situation, does the Feng line of Zhang's father and son have the ability to beat the Japanese wolf?