The next day, the East China Government's 1901 annual government work report meeting was officially held in the large lecture hall of the Executive Building. Wang Yunpeng, President of the Executive Yuan, made an annual government work summary report to personnel from various departments and all veteran members. A comprehensive summary of the entire work of the East China Government in 1901, including a part of the work of 1900, and also made plans and arrangements for the government work in 1902.

[Annual Government Work Summary Report] is mainly divided into four major aspects: internal affairs, finance, foreign affairs, and military. Among them, internal affairs and finance are the main ones, accounting for nearly 70% of the entire [Work Summary Report] content.

First, the goals set in 1901 were completed, the government and administrative agencies of the time travelers were formally established, the electoral system was determined, and the first government leaders were elected, which also brought the development of the time travelers to the right track; second, the rule of the Shandong region was officially obtained, allowing the time travelers to have their own base, realize political, economic, financial, tariff, military and diplomatic autonomy, and land reforms were carried out in some areas, accumulating sufficient experience for future work; in addition, a number of modern industrial enterprises were established, laying the foundation for further industrialization.

In terms of finance, the fiscal revenue in 1901 was 12.757 million taels of silver. Of course, this was calculated by converting part of the grain into silver. This is a considerable number, because for most of the time in 1901, time travelers only occupied a small part of Tianjin, Qingdao, Weihai and Shandong. In this era, the Qing court's annual fiscal revenue was only more than 80 million taels of silver. Therefore, the East China government's annual fiscal revenue reached about 1/7 of the Qing court when the area controlled by the control and population was far less than the Qing court, which is of course a very rare achievement.

The main reasons for the high fiscal revenue of time travelers are three aspects. First, the time travelers have the autonomy of taxes. In 1901, the customs tariffs accounted for more than half. The Qing court's customs tariff was only 5%, while the time travelers can set their own prices. The average tariffs set reached 18.2%, which is far higher than the Qing court. Therefore, although the inlet and outflow of goods by Tianjin Customs is less than half of the original Qing court, the tariffs collected have exceeded the original.

Secondly, the time travel has formulated a complete fiscal system and strict tax management, which has eliminated local grassroots from the ground up and effectively increased the government's fiscal revenue. According to the research of some scholars in the old time and space, the actual tax expenses of the residents of the Qing court were about 4 times the fiscal revenue, and the other three times were exploited from the middle and filled with personal gains by local grassroots officials. However, the time travelers have penetrated their management deep into the grassroots level. In addition to all aspects of strict taxation, these intermediate taps can be basically eliminated, and fiscal revenue can naturally be greatly increased;

Finally, there is another factor, although it is not the main cause, it cannot be ignored. It is that land reform has been basically implemented in areas where the time travelers are actually controlled, and the exploitation of the landlords is less. Therefore, the actual expenses that time travelers can receive are far higher than those of the Qing court, but the farmers' expenditures are much less.

However, compared with other income, fiscal revenue is nothing, because other income is 122.6 million taels of silver. The majority of them are silver and other property plundered by the Eight-Nation Alliance in China confiscated in Beijing. In contrast, there are more than 90 million taels of silver; in addition, weapons, equipment, and materials seized after defeating the Eight-Nation Alliance, such as a battleship, can be discounted for millions of taels of silver; and in addition, the redemption fee paid by various countries.

In 1901, the total fiscal expenditure of the East China government reached 32.15 million taels of silver, of which military expenditure accounted for more than 1,700 taels of silver. However, after filling the fiscal deficit, the East China government still had about 80 million taels of bank deposits, so the fiscal situation was still quite good.

In terms of foreign affairs, the first thing was to help Qingting sign relatively acceptable treaties in negotiations with various countries, and did not lose its national rights and interests. It also forced all countries to formally recognize the existence of the East China government; at the same time, the East China government also temporarily reached a balanced relationship with the Qing court, and the Qing court basically acquiesced to Shandong's independent existence. In addition, it initially established a positive image of time travelers being enlightened, notarized, honest, not afraid of power, and dared to safeguard national interests across the country, so it was basically recognized by the Chinese.

In terms of military affairs, it was to completely defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, defeat the Russian army going south, and force countries to end the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China, return to the negotiating table, and accept the conditions of the time travelers. At the same time, it also initially completed the construction of the People's Army and Navy, and could fully and effectively protect the security interests of the East China government.

After the report was over, warm applause suddenly erupted in the lecture hall. Although everyone attending the meeting knew that the East China government had achieved considerable achievements in the past year, there was no comprehensive understanding, because most people only had to contact part of the East China government for their work, and there were not many time travelers who could understand the overall situation. Now after listening to the annual summary report, I realized that the achievements made by the East China government far exceeded the imagination of most people.

The morning meeting officially ended. After lunch, everyone took a break and started the meeting again at 2 pm. The main content of the afternoon was to arrange the work plan and fiscal budget for 1902.

In 1902, the main tasks of the East China government were stable in the ruling foundation and tried its best to develop the economy. First, we must fully and actually control all regions of Shandong Province and establish a local administrative system; second, we must complete the land reform tasks of Shandong Province, improve farmers' lives, and develop agricultural production; further improve government institutions, gain energy and military construction; establish the East China government's own financial system, and in the second half of the year, the East China government's official issuance; and finally, the first year construction plan of the East China government's five-year plan is carried out.

The fiscal budget in 1902 was 40.18 million taels of silver, of which the investment in the first year of the five-year plan was about 12 million silver; the military expenditure was 12.55 million silver. Although no war was expected to occur in 1902, the construction of the army still had to continue. Therefore, military expenditure accounted for about 30% of the total fiscal expenditure, which was an extremely high proportion. Of course, this was a unique phenomenon at the beginning of the establishment of the government. With the stability of the rule, the proportion of military expenditure will gradually be reduced. It is estimated that the government's fiscal revenue in 1902 will be about 40 million silver, which can basically reach the balance of revenue and expenditure.

However, this is the first time that the East China government has made a fiscal budget, and it lacks corresponding experience, so it still reserves 10 million silver reserves to prevent accidents from happening.

Finally, I briefly introduce the content of the five-year plan. The construction of 45 projects will be completed within five years, also known as the "Fourth Five-Year Plan", including 23 industrial projects, 15 infrastructure projects, and 7 municipal public projects for people's livelihood. It is expected that the completion of this five-year plan will require an investment of 70 to 80 million taels of silver.

Among them, industrial projects account for more than half, divided into 15 heavy industrial projects and 8 light industrial projects, which shows that the East China government regards industrialization as the focus of this five-year plan. After completing this five-year plan, it can basically build a preliminary industrial foundation and cultivate a group of industrial workers. The equipment and technology required for each project can be used reasonably, and the principle is to first solve the existence or not. On this basis, it will try its best to choose advanced technical equipment. However, after the technology is introduced, it must be digested and absorbed as much as possible. After the five-year plan is over, half of the equipment introduced can be solved by the technology.

Infrastructure is mainly railways, highways, docks and other projects. In addition to Jiaoji Railway, two railways have been standardized. One is the Jiyan Railway from Dezhou, Jinan to Teng County, Yanzhou, with a total length of about 330 kilometers, and the other is the Qingpeng Railway connecting Qingdao, Weihai, and Penglai, with a total length of about 380 kilometers. After these three railways are completed, the total length of the railway in Shandong Province will reach 1,100 kilometers, and the railway network layout will be initially formed in Shandong. In addition to railways, a highway connecting Shandong east and west will be built as an auxiliary railway.

People's livelihood municipal public projects mainly include schools, farms, stadiums, etc.

Of course, the overall situation, distribution, etc. of these 45 projects will be discussed item by item in the following days of meetings and will be voted by the Senate.

As a result, the meeting lasted for 5 days and all 45 projects were determined. Qingdao won a total of 15 projects, becoming the biggest winner. However, 8 of these 15 projects were original or determined projects, including Jingdao Arsenal, Jingdao Shipyard, Qingdao Port, power plant, steel plant, Sifang Locomotive Factory, administrative district construction, etc. The newly added seven projects are machinery manufacturing plants, metallurgy plants, chemical plants, food processing plants, Shandong highways, Qingpeng Railway, and a stadium. Qingdao's projects are mainly heavy industry, and some heavy industry projects are basically unique in Qingdao, which fully demonstrates Qingdao's capital status.

Tianjin has obtained 10 projects, including Tianjin shipyards, ports, textile factories, and schools. New projects include power plants, cement plants, food processing plants, paper mills, leather factories, and paper mills. Most of them are light industrial projects, which also reflects the characteristics of Tianjin's logistics economy as the main focus.

Although Jinan has only obtained 8 projects, except for Jiaoji Railway, all other new projects are new projects, including the Youjiyan Railway, power plants, arsenals, textile factories, cement factories, farms, and schools, so it is not bad. Wang Sheng is also very satisfied with this result. These 8 projects are very average, focusing on industry, infrastructure, and people's livelihood and municipal governments, and they do not tend toward a certain aspect. Not only can it greatly promote Jinan's social and economic development within the past five years, but once this five-year plan is completed, it will greatly further the industrial level of Jinan.

The Shanghai New District, which has not yet been officially launched, has also obtained three projects, namely the wharf, the new district administrative building, and another infrastructure project.
Chapter completed!