Whether the generals in the capital should have a decent discussion about Song Biao's separation of vassals, this discussion even spread to the government and the public across the country. There were many attackers. Many famous ministers and lofty ideals strictly opposed it. Some even said that Song Biao himself asked for the feudal state.

King, for a moment, it seemed that the whole country was speaking out against him.

There were people full of jealousy and hatred everywhere in the government and the public. They compared Song Biao to Wu Sangui, and they were like Wu Sangui. They criticized Song Biao with pen and paper, wishing they could curse Song Biao to death with a three-inch pen.

Song Biao really never thought that the Qing government would consider dividing him into vassals, let alone proposed such an idea.

In response to the sudden influx of infamy, Song Biao chose to treat the matter with a calm indifference. Zhang Zhidong knew that he had no such request, so he sent him a text message and advised him to report himself. Song Biao also

I was too lazy to make an impassioned speech, so I called Zhang Zhidong back with the words "If you want to accuse me, there is no excuse."

The staff of the Secretariat were also surprised. Some persuaded Song Biao to simply force the imperial court to divide the vassalage, while others persuaded Song Biao to shirk the situation to avoid worsening the situation. Yuan Jinkai even prepared four documents with different wordings for Song Biao within the Secretariat.

Song Biao coldly rejected all suggestions.

He couldn't tell what kind of conspiracy was behind this matter, but he was not afraid of the conspiracy. The strength and initiative were in his hands, and he would always have the final say in the outcome of the matter.

He kept his secret and wanted to see how the Qing government planned to end the situation.

The capital was in chaos, and people in the three eastern provinces were panicked. In this atmosphere, Song Biao instead arranged a trip to Fushun to inspect the coal industry.

On January 7, 1908, after New Year's Day, Song Biao arrived at Fushun Coal Mine by train.

The railway from Shenyang to Fushun was repaired and completed by Russia during the Russo-Japanese War. After the war, using the railway plan of the three eastern provinces, Song Biao used the Far Eastern Railway Corporation to take back half of the ownership and management rights from Russia and invest funds.

Additional repairs.

Because of the good railway conditions, the first batch of large-scale coal mines to be developed after the establishment of the Far East Mining Corporation were in Fushun. They are the five coal mines in the west open pit, the east open pit, Dongzhou, Qianjinzhai, and Laohutai, and the west open pit and east open pit.

The mining scale is the largest. There are 23,000 miners in these two mines alone, and a large number of electric and steam-powered coal mining machines have been purchased from the United States, and the Fushun Power Plant has been built nearby.

The person in charge of the Fushun Coal Mine is Kuang Jingyang. He is being welcomed by Fushun. Wu Yang, who was the general director of the Mining Corporation, personally accompanied Song Biao to inspect the mine. The train is being built all the way around the coal mine. There are special railways surrounding each mining site.

Song Biao took a special railway to inspect the Fushun Coal Mine. He visited five mines on the slow-moving train and finally stopped at the West Open-pit Coal Mine, the largest and the headquarters of the Fushun Coal Mining Company.

While still on the train, Song Biao could see the huge coal field. The black coal field seemed like a black sea. More than 10,000 miners in the coal field were densely distributed in various places, as if they were countless lonely fishing boats in the sea of ​​coal.

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The foundation of industry is first and foremost metallurgy, and the foundation of metallurgy is first and foremost mining.

Since taking control of the three northeastern provinces, Song Biao has always attached great importance to investment in mining exploration and mining, and coal and iron are the most important among them.

Coal has been the world's most important mining resource in the second half of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. Compared with oil in the middle and late 20th century, coal's status and value were more important during this period. Oil and electricity

It is the soul of the 20th century, and coal was both petroleum and electricity during this period. All industry and life are inseparable from it.

Song Biao knew this, but he really lacked some deeper understanding.

…

At any time, Song Biao attached great importance to military uniforms. As the Northeast New Army became more and more perfect, the design of military uniforms had more pre-World War I characteristics, following the development of the world trend. Generally speaking, it was peaceful.

The development of military uniforms in the Tsarist Russian Empire kept pace.

Considering the cost of fabric processing and maintaining the overall distinctive characteristics, the Northeastern New Army chooses uniform blue-gray military uniforms for all seasons. The main difference in style from the Russian army is the use of medium-short hem large cloth military uniforms. In winter,

The broadcloth military uniform is made of cotton-padded clothing with an inner lining, a blue-gray large woolen coat on the outside, and a thick cotton-padded coat on the inside.

The uniforms of lieutenants are gray green, and the uniforms of colonels and senior officers are dark brown. In addition to the normal dark brown, Song Biao also has a special black uniform with a medium-short hem and a cut that is also characteristic of the Northeast New Army.

The uniform is taller than the Russian army's large woolen uniform, and is usually required to be 1.5 inches higher than the knees of the soldiers.

Song Biao's military uniform is relatively special. It is made of cashmere on the outside and a layer of soft leather padding on the inside, which has better warmth retention and is more comfortable.

The Northeast New Army's sabers have always continued the Chasik style. The initial models were ordered from Russia, but now they are customized and produced by local tool factories. The handles are made of brass produced in the Hunjiang area. The curvature of the handles is compared with traditional ones.

Chasik sabers are smaller and generally use a black scabbard and a brass sheath tip cover.

Different from the Russian saber, the sabers of the Northeastern New Army are all engraved with the three gun symbols symbolizing the three northeastern provinces.

As for the gold-plated St. George's saber presented by the Emperor of Tsarist Russia, if it were not for special ceremonial needs, Song Biao usually would not continue to carry it with him. Most of the time, he wore a locally produced sword modified from the Chasik saber.

The Northeastern Army Knife is also called the Benxi Army Knife because it is customized at the Benxi Knife Factory.

Today, Song Biao was wearing a black military uniform, white gloves, a Benxi saber tied around his waist, and a pair of deerskin cavalry boots that were almost difficult to change. He appeared in the coal mine with an aura that towered over the entire world.

Wu Yangzeng and Kuang Jingyang carefully accompanied Song Biao. Kuang Jingyang explained the development of Fushun Coal Mine Company of Far East Mining Corporation and some interesting anecdotes during the construction process of these coal mines.

After two years of huge investment, especially in the large-scale development of the four major open-pit coal mines, the scale of the coal industry in the three northeastern provinces had reached a monthly output of 700,000 tons by the end of 1907, meeting the requirements put forward at last year's annual meeting.

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Together with the Kailuan Coal Mine and Shanxi Coal and Railway Franchise purchased from the British Fu Company, and the Zibo Coal Mine and Laiwu Coal and Iron Franchise purchased in the Jiaodong Peninsula, Far East Mining Corporation will be able to increase its total coal output in three years.

It has exceeded four million tons per month. Even if it continues to develop at this scale, China's total coal mining volume will only be a negligible force in the entire world.

From 1870 to 1913, the total amount of coal mining in the four countries of Britain, France, and Germany increased from 189 million tons to 1.1267 billion tons, and in 1907 there were 925 million tons. Wu Yang once made great efforts in domestic coal mining.

An estimate of the production capacity is based on the existing investment intensity. In 1910, it could only have a production capacity of 70 million tons. Let alone the entire world, it was only a fraction of the number compared to any country such as Britain, France, and Germany.

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Of course, this has something to do with the Far East Consortium’s decision to transfer more capital to investment in other industries, because the total demand for coal in Asia is limited, and even Japan is the main net exporter of coal in Asia.

Now is obviously not the time to talk about nature protection and the greenhouse effect. How to increase domestic coal consumption capacity is becoming an urgent issue for discussion at the mid-year quarterly meeting of the Far East Consortium.

Song Biao and his entourage of dozens of people appeared at the mining site. He stood in the center of the crowd, habitually observing the operation of the entire coal mine with a telescope. Most of the workers were from Zhili and Shandong. The weather was already so bad

It was cold, but most of them were wearing very thin autumn clothes, and they didn't look very miserable.

Chinese people are so easily satisfied.

This is an era of overcrowding. In areas such as Zhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Southern Fujian, and Guangdong, the land can no longer support enough people, and a large number of people cannot find suitable employment opportunities. In the event of a famine, they can only

Facing the tragedy of starving to death alive.

The three northeastern provinces now provide millions of job opportunities every year. These jobs have led to the prosperity of business, which has greatly stimulated the increase in fiscal revenue in the three northeastern provinces.

Song Biao sympathized with and appreciated them from the bottom of his heart. He sympathized with them because of their experiences and was grateful because they were working hard to amass more huge wealth for themselves.

The West Open-pit Coal Mine has an average width of 2.2 kilometers and a length of 7.3 kilometers. The estimated coal reserves are about 250 million tons. Currently, a total of 7 sub-mining areas are set up for simultaneous mining. The place where Song Biao is at this time is only one of these 7 sub-mining areas.

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There are three thousand miners working in such a sub-mining area, and there are more than 60 pieces of machinery and equipment imported from abroad, because labor is cheap. Even horses are rarely used here, and multiple coal conveying lines have been set up in the spacious coal area.

Along the path, five or six miners work with two horses or mules to haul coal. Other miners work hard on both sides of the path, constantly filling each person's coal basket, carrying it on their own shoulders and carrying it to the path for accounting.

Prices here are based on quantity. The more you work, the more you get. You may be able to earn a lot more salary, but it is overdrafting their health.

Most of the people working here are male workers, but there are also female workers who are responsible for some lighter physical work. There is not much technical work, and the production capacity depends on the number of people and a small amount of machinery.

A very narrow coal conveying track is being temporarily built far away from Song Biao. There is no doubt that this can save a lot of manpower and labor.

Song Biao looked at everything in front of him with a stern expression, his heart constantly being stung by a short needle, but he decided to get used to this pain.

A coal industry group from the Research Bureau of the Governor's Mansion arrived earlier than Song Biao, and was also doing some statistical work in the West Open-pit Coal Mine not far away. Kuang Jingyang was walking over to invite them over in person.

Song Biao put down his telescope and looked at everything around him indifferently. He asked Wu Yang who was accompanying him: "How much money can a worker generally earn every month?"

Wu Yang once said: "As long as you work hard and your body can hold up, it is possible to dig out fifteen loads of coal every day and earn twenty silver yuan every month, which is probably no lower than the military salary in the New Army. Under normal circumstances, it is about

You can earn 14 to 50 yuan by mining in the open air.

Relatively speaking, mines make more money. Coal mining in mines requires high machinery investment, high mining costs, and thin profits, so the wages for workers are lower. On average, a miner can mine about 30 tons of coal every month.

, the United States because of machine

The degree of mechanization is high, and the average mining volume of each miner can reach 450 tons per year. This is not possible in the UK now. The efforts in mechanization are very low, and the income of miners is getting lower and lower. Although coal production is increasing every year, workers

Our overall income is getting lower and lower. Our level of mechanization is also low, but we mainly rely on open-pit coal mines to increase the per capita mining volume. And when it comes to wages, although our wages are the lowest, they are still low compared to the income from other things.

Very good.”

Song Biao knew in his heart that the profits he earned here were very generous. Just like Wu Yang once told him: "You general directors and the general office must be aware that my factory cannot treat workers too badly. The wages are the same as other factories."

.Others

We need to do better, eat better, live better, and pay more attention to it. For example, if the weather is cold, you can buy coarse cotton-padded clothes in bulk and make them according to the characteristics of labor. For example, use canvas. Even if it is labor

It’s not a good time to wear cotton-padded clothes

Tools, such as gloves and shoes, can also be distributed. We should have better beds and bedding for night accommodation. For example, we can provide money for workers to apply for disability insurance at Xinhua Insurance Company. Think of yourself and others, although we are not lacking.

Workers are not afraid of lack of work

People, but if we treat the workers better, the workers will treat us better. Taking a step back, who doesn’t know that these are the factories of Song Biao, the governor of the three eastern provinces. If you treat the workers badly here, if word spreads about it, it will be harmful to us.

My reputation isn’t very good either!”

Wu Yang had hurriedly agreed: "What the Governor said is absolutely true, I will have someone handle it right away!"

Song Biao ordered: "The same goes for other factories. Tell Rong Xingqiao, don't embarrass me. You have to make money, but you can't lose your reputation."

Wu Yang once nodded silently.

At this time, Kuang Jingyang brought several staff from the Research Bureau to Song Biao, because Ouyang Xi, who was in charge of leading the team, was recommended by Ouyang Geng to study in the United States for a PhD in economics. He had just received his PhD from Yale University and was invited by the Research Bureau to return to China as an economic consultant.

,Talents are rare. Song Biao took the initiative to step forward and shake hands with this man.

No one expected to meet Song Biao here, and everyone seemed particularly happy.

Song Biao asked Ouyang Xi with great interest: "What are you here to investigate this time?"
To be continued...