The General Office of the Qingxiang Committee, the General Office of the Guangdong Provincial Police, the General Office of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway and the General Office of the Railway Patrol Police, the General Office of the Guangdong New Army, the General Office of the Guangdong Salt Transport Envoy, the General Office of the Material Bureau, the General Office of the Minting Bureau, the General Office of the Guangdong Manufacturing Bureau (Guangdong Arsenal), the Political Envoy Si Zuo Shen Zheng (from the three products), the Guangdong Provincial Governor and the Honest Visiting Envoy, the Huangpu General Office (in charge of the Huangpu Water, Torpedo Bureau, the Ship Bureau and the Guangdong Sailor School). Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

He wears more than a dozen positions, or more than that, not counting the positions he holds in Huguang. Chen Wenqiang is not very happy about this, there are errands to make money, but there are more errands to spend money. The reorganization and training of the new army is the main one, and the transformation and expansion of the manufacturing bureau and the machinery bureau are also holes for swallowing money, as well as the expenses of clearing the townships and suppressing bandits, expanding the police, and patrolling the maritime frontiers, as well as part of the supply of materials and military salaries for the war in the southwest.

Although it seems complicated and expensive to outsiders, Chen Wenqiang is still full of confidence. In particular, after this huge supply to the revolutionary army, there will no longer be a heavy burden in the short term, and two-thirds of the factory's production capacity will also be converted to civilian production and manufacturing, so as to create greater benefits.

The main reason why Chen Wenqiang's industry can flourish is scientific management, making the best use of talents, high efficiency, and clear rewards and punishments. There is no need to compare with those government-run factories and enterprises or government-supervised and business-run enterprises, even domestic private enterprises, and none of them can apply the modern business philosophy so skillfully and comprehensively.

Once the so-called power is in hand, the order will be carried out. Judging from Chen Wenqiang's official position, although he is not the number one leader, even if he is a political envoy and a messenger of the Yamen, according to Chen Wenqiang's strength, even if he arbitrarily wields power, almost no one can control him. Although he is tactful. does not easily offend the so-called Shangguan, but it does not mean that he will be as forbearant as Zhang Renjun suggested.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the central authority continued to weaken. The power of the local governor is very great, but the generals who hold the power of the army are even more important to the governor and dare not be punished. For example, Li Zhun, the commander of the naval division in history, had the strength of 20 patrol battalions, and dared to fight against the governor Zhang Mingqi, until Zhang Mingqi transferred Long Jiguang and divided Li Zhun's military power.

Although Chen Wenqiang's armed forces are now only police, his strength after expansion and equipment cannot be underestimated. Moreover, Wu Luzhen, the land governor, is his sworn friend, and there is really no one in Guangdong who can shake him. If it is really needed, Chen Wenqiang is not afraid to show his face as a bully.

After several years of development and solicitation. Chen Wenqiang's subordinates can be said to be full of talents, and he doesn't need to do many things personally, as long as he arranges it, he can almost do it properly.

The first was the relocation of the Guangdong Manufacturing Bureau (Ishii Arsenal). Chen Wenqiang used the excuse that there were no iron mines and no steel mills in Guangdong. The machinery, equipment, and workers and technicians were all moved to Qiongzhou and merged with the Yazhou Arsenal.

The Guangdong Arsenal was built in 1874 and later renamed the Guangdong Gun and Bullet Bureau, also known as the Shijing Arsenal. After Zhang Zhidong was transferred to the governor of Huguang, the machines were shipped to Hanyang, Hubei Province, and became the Hubei Gun Factory. In 1896, the gun and ammunition factory was renamed the Guangdong Manufacturing West Bureau, also known as the gun and ammunition factory Shijing New Factory, and a gun factory was set up.

By 1905. Because the original factory can only imitate a single Mauser, half used artificially. With only five guns per day, Cen Chunxuan asked to expand manufacturing and move a new factory to Dayou Village, Qingyuan County. They also purchased new machines from the German merchants Xinyi, Lihe and Liangyang, including a new gun machine that can build 25 pieces of 6 Mili 5 caliber 1898 5 Mauser smokeless guns, and a bullet machine that can make 25,000 smokeless bullets per day, with a total of more than 400 pieces, totaling more than 670,000 taels. In addition, the Krupp Grusen factory was ordered to produce 300 pounds of cotton medicine per day, and a total of 140,000 taels of various parts for the manufacture of smokeless medicines, and the contract was signed.

This is the first cut of the foreign domain, and I suddenly thought of mentioning it to the imperial court, but I unexpectedly hit a big nail. In the past, Sichuan and Hunan provinces both requisitioned for the purchase of machinery and built factories last year, and the administrative office ordered them to postpone the operation, and the training office is planning to build three factories in the north, center, and south where the national army needs them.

In 1906, Shum Chunxuan asked for a new machine to expand the old factory. Because the new machine has been paid for and has been shipped. After deliberation by the imperial court, the military training department planned to allow Guangdong to expand the old factory with new machines.

Subsequently, he purchased land next to the West Bureau of Shijing Manufacturing in Panyu, Guangdong, and expanded the old factory to establish a manufacturing ordnance factory, which was later renamed Guangdong Arsenal. The gun and ammunition factory of the old West Bureau was rebuilt into a black medicine factory, the gun factory was rebuilt into a machine factory, and the gun factory and smokeless ammunition factory were re-established. And in Nanhai County, which belongs to the Binjiang estuary, another smokeless gunpowder factory was built.

Although there have been several twists and turns, the operation of the Guangdong Arsenal has not seen a major improvement. At first, not only the equipment was purchased from Germany, but even the warheads and shell copper billets had to be imported; The barrel of the rifle is also bought back from foreign countries, and then drilled and rifled. In the later period, although the import of barrel blanks was stopped, it was still necessary to import steel for gun making. Because there has been no steel industry in Guangdong Province, if you can't buy foreign raw materials, you can only stop production.

Moreover, although the Guangdong Arsenal successfully copied the German 1904 Mauser rifle, it was called the Guangxu 33rd year six-meter eight new five-shot smokeless gun. However, the degree of handiwork is serious, and only more than 20 guns can be fired every day. In addition, the scale of the arsenal is still neat, but there are many houses and few factories, the air in the two factories is not very circulating, and the summer heat is scorching, and the sickness of each craftsman is less than four or five out of ten. Most of the raw materials used to make ordnance come from overseas, so the products are expensive, so it is very suitable to buy them rather than to buy them.

Transformation and integration, Chen Wenqiang is quite satisfied with the machinery and equipment of the Guangdong Arsenal, after all, it is newly purchased, and there is no major problem. And he is most interested in the craftsmen of the arsenal, that is, the technical backbone. Among them, the overseas mechanics who had gone to Germany to study the manufacturing process for three months (the three-month apprenticeship was conditional on the purchase of German machines) was valued by Chen Wenqiang and he spared no expense to retain them.

The relocation of the Guangdong Arsenal to Qiongzhou will undoubtedly enable Chen Wenqiang to completely control the production and supply of munitions, and with the help of scientific management, it will be a fact that will soon be able to create benefits.

At the same time as the relocation of the arsenal, Chen Wenqiang sold several pieces of land in the arsenal and raised 20,000 yuan to invest in the Huangpu Shipyard, in addition to the three stone docks that had just been overhauled and built, two new large cement docks and the expansion of the wharf; They also refurbished machinery and hired technicians. Reopening of maintenance, shipbuilding and other businesses.

In fact, Chen Wenqiang has taken over the Huangpu Shipyard for more than half a year, and the two stone docks of Kebai and Lushun can be docked at the same time after repair. It can also be used for a 5,000-ton ship to dock for repairs, but with the rapid increase in the size and tonnage of the ship, the dock below 300 feet can no longer meet the needs. Therefore, Chen Wenqiang cooperated with the German Volkeng shipyard to rebuild and expand the shipyard, and recruited Chinese technicians from Hong Kong. The construction of two 3,000-ton commercial steamers began first.

Why not build warships but commercial ships, and expand the dockyard to repair ships, is naturally a matter of money. A commercial steamship is an order placed by a United Shipping Company. Ship repairs can also see the benefits immediately, and the construction of warships will be thrown to the Guangdong naval division for nothing, how can the government have the money to Chen Wenqiang.

Now Chen Wenqiang has taken over the Huangpu Shipbuilding Bureau, the Mine Bureau, and the Torpedo Bureau, and two 3,000-ton commercial steamers have also left the factory. The other ship will be able to launch sea trials for more than a month. The money earned is enough to cover the maintenance costs of the three bureaus for a year.

After the arrangements were made for the two industries of the arsenal and the manufacturing bureau, Chen Wenqiang made full use of the authority of the salt transportation envoy. Personnel were dispatched to inspect the salt works in Guangdong, redundant personnel were eliminated, modern production and management methods were implemented, output and quality were improved, and costs were reduced. At the same time, Chen Wenqiang began to reform the salt administration in Guangdong under the planning of a think tank.

Speaking of salt administration. There were also several reforms throughout the Qing Dynasty, but the officialdom was corrupt. The lack of supervision and the pursuit of interests by the imperial court made the salt administration change from the outline law to the ticket law, and after decades of changes, it returned to the old road of the outline law.

Generally speaking, there are two types of institutional change: induced institutional change and mandatory institutional change. In the process of implementing the outline law, the vested interest groups formed have a strong demand for the existing system, which is the lock-in effect of the system, that is, the path dependence model of the system. In this case, it is impossible to achieve a change by relying on spontaneous demand to induce institutional change, and the breaking of this lockdown state must rely on the coercive behavior of the introduction of the government.

Chen Wenqiang has courage and courage, but he is also cautious about reform, and only tries to reform the salt administration in Guangdong.

First of all, waste salt led to salt stamps, so that the salt industry was opened to more merchants. As long as you go to the salt government yamen to get a ticket, you can operate, and the territory of salt marketing has been greatly expanded, and you can come and go freely. The government increased taxes on a per-ticket basis, and the more salt stamps a merchant had, the higher the tax burden.

The second is the official transportation and commercial sales, taking advantage of Guangdong's coastal advantages, hiring the steamers of the joint company to transport salt in batches to the coastal ports, and the salt merchants can receive salt in the nearest port warehouse with their tickets.

Another item is the official supervision of commercial sales: presided over by the salt transport envoy Yamen, the salt merchants from all over the country were convened to draw lots to elect the salt merchants' associations, and the salt transport envoy Yamen determined the amount of price increase, roughly with two as the maximum price limit, and the salt production cost of the salt farm as the lowest price limit, so as to avoid vicious competition as much as possible, and form a monopoly situation in which big businessmen swallow small businessmen.

The last reform measure is to abolish the centime tax, and there will be no tickets for transporting salt, and the various centime gold bureaus in Guangdong will no longer charge fees, so as to reduce the cost of salt transportation and exploitation.

Throughout the reform of the salt law in the Qing Dynasty, it is nothing more than a wandering between the outline law (salt citation) and the ticket law. The essence of the ticket law is that when the merchant holds the ticket to transport salt, he competes freely and does not have the sole advantage of the world. Therefore, the benefits of the ticket law are in the small businessmen and hawkers, and if there are many small businessmen, the big businessmen cannot monopolize it, and the businessmen have no monopoly power, and there will be fewer vices, and the officialdom will accumulate fewer evils, and the floating expenses will be reduced, and the cost will be light and the profits will be large, so the transportation and sales will be prosperous, and the government, businessmen and the people will have their own place.

In fact, Chen Wenqiang's reform measures are creative, but they are also plagiarized. However, the strategy of him and the think tank has, to a large extent, eliminated the accumulated defects of the Outline Law, made up for the fatal flaws of the Ticket Law itself, and greatly reduced the opportunities for collusion between officials and businessmen.

Regardless of whether you are a big merchant or a small peddler, as long as the salt transportation envoy Yamen holds a silver ticket in various places, the price of salt received is almost the same. Large-scale transportation and nearby salt extraction reduce the cost of individual transportation, waste cents into taxes reduce the exploitation links, and the price limit avoids vicious competition to the greatest extent......

In short, the reform measures are relatively comprehensive, and as a temporary measure, they are not impossible to adjust and improve. Of course, these reforms will certainly be slandered and opposed by vested interest groups, and Chen Wenqiang is mentally prepared and has taken precautions against this.

There is no way, the process of reform is essentially a process of redistribution and adjustment of interests. When the interests of special groups are harmed, they will inevitably attack them one after another. And these people are naturally the "officials of the salt in the caves" of the salt introduction system.

But Chen Wenqiang was determined to implement this belated reform with great vigor. As a result, the magical piece of paper became a waste product, depriving the salt merchants who relied on salt to make monopoly profits and making ordinary people feel the policy dividend of the sharp drop in salt prices.

The successive measures are jaw-dropping, the bureau and the patrol police bureau have been merged, the local gold offices should be withdrawn, the leaders of the various offices have also been reassigned. The centigold is re-determined, and there are exemptions, decreases, and increases according to different commodities.

For example, the salt received with the ticket is free of charge; For agricultural products in this province, the gold is reduced by half; For products manufactured by factories and enterprises in this province, the centigold will be halved; Foreign goods, double the gold......

From the above, it can also be seen that Chen Wenqiang's thinking is to support national industry and commerce in disguise, suppress the sales of foreign goods, and give preferential treatment to people's livelihood. Since he is unable to protect the tariffs, the only way to curb the sales channels and terminals of foreign goods is to curb them. After all, most of the foreign goods are distributed by domestic merchants, and as long as they feel that the cost of doing business has increased, they will naturally lose their enthusiasm for selling foreign goods.

Yuan Shuxun, the new governor of Liangguang, was still on the road, Zhang Renjun was waiting in a fool's errand, and only Chen Wenqiang was left in Guangdong, jumping up and down, wielding all kinds of power sticks, and blowing a whirlwind of reform.

The predecessors planted trees, and the descendants enjoyed the shade. Guangdong's atmosphere opened up early, and several governors attached importance to education, which also provided favorable conditions for Chen Wenqiang's reforms. A large number of outstanding graduates of the Guangdong School of Law and Politics, the Liangguang Higher Industrial School, and the Liangguang Dialect School have been recruited and hired by Chen Wenqiang, and there will also be capable people from the police force who will be entrusted with official posts in various institutions such as the Salt Transportation, Lijin, Manufacturing Bureau, and Local Police Bureau, and will be sent to various parts of Guangdong to implement Chen Wenqiang's reform measures in place.

Judging from the appearance, Chen Wenqiang has done a good job, involving all aspects of reform. And where did he put the top priority of his own work? The answer may be surprising, but in fact, Chen Wenqiang has been paying attention to the suppression of bandits in Qingxiang, has been recruiting and expanding the police force, and has always wanted to completely reverse the law and order in Guangdong.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand the reason, Chen Wenqiang wants to get rid of maladministration, wants to encourage and support national industry and commerce, and wants to make Guangdong's cake bigger, and a relatively stable development environment is fundamental. (To be continued.) )