Zhan Tianyou has been in the Northeast for a few years, but compared to Tang Shaoyi who came with him, and Yan Fu, his position is much more insignificant now. However, this is just an outsider's opinion, after several years of training and learning, Zhan Tianyou has become one of the top railway engineers in Northeast China. Just last year, he presided over the construction of a railway from Andong to Pyongyang, Seoul, Daejeon, Busan. Another railway, from Vladivostok through Shuangseongja, Hunchun, Cheongjin, Wonsan, Seoul, Daejeon, and finally to Mokpo, is also under construction.

However, at this time, Zhan Tianyou was transferred back to the headquarters of Dashang, and he has not returned to Dashang for nearly two years. The place where he works on weekdays is now more concentrated in Shengjing, and sometimes he goes to Jilin, Heilongjiang, and even further afield, such as the Outer Northeast region.

Seeing Zhan Tianyou, Wang greeted him together. Zhan Tianyou was very happy to see Wang Yi, this was the person who gave him his dream.

"Sir seems to have grown taller!" Zhan Tianyou made a joke.

When he first met Wang Yi, Wang Yi was still a child, and now he is also a young man of eighteen or nineteen.

Wang Yi also smiled when he heard this, and said, "Chengcheng has worked hard all the way, so sit down quickly." ”

"Thank you, sir!"

It happened that Shen Yazhi was here today, so she came over to offer tea. She also met Zhan Tianyou, and the two greeted each other.

"How is it to work in North Korea, are you still used to it?"

"Very good!" Zhan Tianyou said with a smile. With dark skin, he can see that he has lost a lot of weight than when they first met.

Shen Yazhi shook her head and said, "How can you not suffer if you are exposed to the wind and sun outside." You're talking here, and I'm going to get the kitchen ready for dinner. Wang Yi, let Brother Cheng go to live in Ningdao today. ”

Wang Yi thought about it one by one, and it was okay. Zhan Tianyou naturally agreed, his parents were not in the Northeast, mainly because he was busy every day and had no time to take care of him, so he let his parents stay in his hometown in Anhui. Although he also has a house in the Northeast, there is no one at home, and he has no family taste, so he gladly accepted Wang Yi's invitation.

After drinking tea and talking about the parting, Wang began to inquire about North Korea.

"Sincerely, how is North Korea doing now?"

Zhan Tianyou thought for a while and said, "It's quite stable, occasionally some people come out to make trouble, mainly those family members of the Enlightened Party." However, there were not many responders, and with the help of Zhao Ningxia and Kim Yoon-sik, the situation in North Korea did not have much turmoil. ”

"That's good!" The king nodded and said, "Is the people's acceptance of the railway high?" Didn't think of the railroad as a flood beast, did it? ”

Zhan Tianyou laughed and said, "I really let you talk about it, sir!" At first, the North Korean people were really in awe of the train, but later Kim Sik Young sent some people to explain the principle of the train on the street and gave away a lot of train toys, which made the North Korean people accept the train. ”

"How's the operation going?"

"Although North Korea has established an airship shipping station, its capacity is still very leisurely. Coupled with the issue of cost, North Koreans are now choosing to travel by rail. Unless the freight is very urgent, most of them also choose rail transportation. The problem now is not that there is too much capacity on the railways, but that there is not enough to do it. ”

"That's a problem!" Wang Yi thought for a while, and then said: "The railway can only be like this at present, and it is not realistic to expand the scale, it seems that the construction of highways should be stepped up." ”

Zhan Tianyou nodded and agreed with Wang Yi's statement. "By the way, sir, you recalled me from North Korea this time, I don't know why?"

Wang Yi laughed and said, "I see that you are anxious, this is the case, we have recently taken over some railway construction business, and there is a shortage of manpower here, so I think of you." ”

"I see." Zhan Tianyou suddenly realized and said, "Then I don't know where Mr. plans to send me?" ”

"This time it's a long way to ......"

"It's all right, sir."

"Taiwan! Then Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. ”

Zhan Tianyou knows that Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have now become the territory of the Northeast, but Taiwan is still under the jurisdiction of the Qing court, and he will build the railway by himself, will others let him?

"Don't worry, Taiwan was invited by Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Fujian, don't worry about the future, you will treat Taiwan as our own territory, and you don't have to think about anything else. Do what you have to do. ”

"Understand ......"

Five days later, Zhan Tianyou set off from Yingkou on a big merchant airship, first to Jeju Island, then to Okinawa, and finally to Keelung, Taiwan. At present, this is a fixed route, and there is a round trip every day as long as the weather permits.

When he got out of the airship, Zhan Tianyou didn't expect Yan Fu, the commander-in-chief of the Dashang Nanyang Fleet, to come to greet him.

"Hello, you busy man, why did you come to greet me in person?"

Although the two haven't seen each other for two or three years, they have never broken their letters. As soon as we met, we were very enthusiastic about each other. There was also a middle-aged man standing beside Yan Fu, dressed as a Qing man and quite powerful.

"This is ......"

Yan Fu patted his head at this time and said with a smile: "Blame me, blame me, I was so excited just now." Let me introduce, this is the governor of Fujian, Liu Mingchuan Liu. Lord Liu, he is what I mentioned to you, our leading railway experts in Northeast China, Zhan Tianyou, Zhan Qiancheng. ”

"Hello Lord Liu!" Zhan Tianyou hugged his wrist and arched his hand.

Liu Mingchuan is obviously also accustomed to the interests of the Northeast, and also smiled: "I have heard of the name for a long time, and I heard that Micheng is also from Anhui?" ”

"Yes, my hometown is the source of Anhui Wu (wu fourth tone), could it be that the adult is also from Anhui?" Zhan Tianyou didn't know much about the origins of Qing officials, so he didn't know if Liu Mingchuan was from Anhui. The only Anhui man he knows is Li Hongzhang.

"That's true, the official's hometown is Hefei, Anhui."

"It turns out that he is a fellow villager with Lord Li Hongzhang!"

Being a fellow villager with Li Hongzhang can be regarded as something that Liu Mingchuan is proud of. And he and Zhan Tianyou are also fellow villagers, so they naturally have a bit of closeness.

Yan Fu smiled at this time: "This is not a place to speak, Lord Liu, Chengcheng, let's go to the city first." ”

Liu Mingchuan patronized and talked to Zhan Tianyou, so much so that he forgot about it, and said with a smile: "If it weren't for a few reminders, I would have been rude, in this way, today the official will be the east, and everyone will go to the best Wangxiang Building in Taipei without getting drunk and not returning!" ”

When he went to Taipei to survey the railway line, of course, it was impossible for Zhan Tianyou to come by himself, and he was followed by a team of more than 20 people. Liu Mingchuan is generous, there is a mouthful of one bite present today, he is a non-falling, all please.

Speaking of which, Liu Mingchuan has done a lot of things in Taiwan in the past two years, and he originally wanted to build a navy in Taiwan, but he was so poor in the Qing Dynasty that he naturally couldn't allow it. From 1884 to 1885, he successively purchased several small boats from the newly built Taiwan shipyard of the Great Shang for the purpose of arrest, transportation, and communication, and another barge for transporting guns and placing mines. In Taipei, he built a machine factory, made his own guns and ammunition, and prepared to build a large machine factory to manufacture artillery shells, and at the same time, set up an ordnance institute and a gunpowder bureau, and then he built and strengthened the forts in Anping, Qihou, Tamsui, Magong, Xiyu, and Dacheng Beizhu, equipped with powerful cannons, and the firepower was increased several times. Set up a mine bureau and a mine battalion in Tamsui so that the mines and batteries can be used together. In addition, he also carried out army reorganization and training, and all the defense troops switched to foreign guns, hired big businessmen to teach them, and strengthened training. A general camp office was set up in Taipei to oversee the military affairs of the whole of Taiwan. Thanks to his vigorous rectification, Taiwan's defense has been enriched day by day.

The other is to encourage commerce, with the help of big businessmen, reopen Keelung coal mines, introduce new equipment, and currently produce more than 10,000 catties of coal per day. The establishment of a government-run sulfur plant in Huwei has made a lot of profits by using the new method. At the same time, he borrowed money from Dashang Bank to set up a government-run sawmill to provide sleepers for the railway. In the same year, a kerosene bureau was set up to produce kerosene. Camphor Monopoly Bureau, shipping company

Set up a police force in Taipei, organize businessmen to set up a Xingshi company, and build shops. In addition, generators were introduced from large merchants, power plants were built, street lamps were built, new public wells were dug, the first steam roller was purchased, and a special agency was set up to manage the city's sanitation.

Liu Mingchuan's policy of soothing is to use both grace and power, and to suppress and appease at the same time. If the favor is not followed, the party will threaten and suppress, and after the threat, it will still be favored. If there are officials who abuse the people and the Han people occupy the land, they will be punished and forbidden, and there will be no favoritism. If the people rob and kill the inhabitants and do not listen to the instructions, they will be threatened. In 1885, the first Fu North Road Tamsui southeast Malayfan, for which he made a statute, ordered him to send his children to the city to study, pheasant naturalization. The boundaries of the land are to be owned by each industry, and the military and civilians are not allowed to occupy it.

In 1885, throughout the year, Liu Mingchuan recruited more than 400 societies and naturalized more than 70,000 people. In the spring and summer of 1886, there were 218 societies in Houshanfu, with more than 50,000 people in Fanding, and more than 260 societies in Qianshanfu, with more than 38,000 people in Fanding, and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. At the same time, he also recruited the poor people of Fujian to expand their land reclamation, so that the people of Fujian and the people of the interior could live together and gradually change their customs, and at the same time improve their economic situation, so that "cultivation and weaving are self-refined, and goods and wealth are self-cultivation".

At the end of 1885, the General Bureau of Reclamation of Taiwan was established, with Lin Weiyuan as the general office, and the Reclamation Bureau and sub-bureaus were set up on the South, North and East Roads, and sub-bureaus were set up in various important areas such as Dakeyi, Dongshijiao, Pulishe, Suao, Hualien and other places. There are doctors, cultivators, and reading personnel in the bureau, who open a school and teach children to read. In addition, a special school was set up in Taipei to provide them with food and clothing, teach them Chinese, arithmetic, official dialect, Taiwanese language, and living etiquette, and often let them come into contact with the Han people to play a subtle role. Let them dispel their doubts and not pretend to be different. In order to caress the fan, Liu Mingchuan "Three relatives are in the domain, and they are in danger, and they are not riding in vain." He doesn't know how to be at ease, and he is far away from what he wants."

Before coming, Wang Yi introduced the situation in Taiwan to Zhan Tianyou, if it weren't for Liu Mingchuan being a hardcore Huaijun person, Zhan Tianyou really thought that this person was an undercover agent of a big businessman.

At the wine table, Liu Mingchuan introduced the situation to Zhan Tianyou.

"At present, Taiwan has two prefectures and eight counties, and I intend to build a province according to the regulations, because Changhua is located in the center of the whole island, the plain is spacious, and it is designated as the provincial capital, and the capital is called Taiwan Prefecture, and Guoshou County is called Taiwan County; In addition, the east of Chiayi, the south of Changhua, and the place with a length of about 100 miles is Yunlin County, and the new reclamation area along the mountains in the southwest of Hsinchu is Miaoli County, and the Shengbei South Hall is Taitung Zhili Prefecture. Before the provincial capital was built, Taipei was close to Fuzhou, and Taipei was the center of governance. As a result, there are three prefectures in Taiwan, which have always been subordinate to the prefecture, 12 counties, and five departments, which are divided into territories and guards, and they are now beginning to take shape. ”

Zhan Tianyou had the map of Taiwan given to him by Yan Fu in his hand, and Liu Mingchuan was also surprised when he saw it, which was much more intuitive than the map in his hand.