Chapter 90 Appointment of Fuzhou Ship Administration Adjustment

Fuzhou.

In 1844, Fuzhou was opened as one of the earliest five people. Britain, the United States, France and other countries set up consulates in Fuzhou. During the Daoguang period, Fuzhou's tea exports have always accounted for 30% of China's total tea exports. In recent years, with the decline of green tea exports, Fuzhou's black tea exports accounted for 40% to 50% of the total. .

When he came to Fuzhou this time, Hu Chuyuan not only wanted to do a good job in Fuzhou Ship Administration, but also wanted to do a good job in China's tea industry.

He knows that only by stabilizing China's silk industry and tea industry can China have a future. Foreign affairs, industry... In fact, they have not seen the essence of the problem.

Hu Chuyuan's steamboat was parked in Mawei Port and was still on the ship. He had seen a large factory of Fuzhou Ship Administration. There was thick gray smoke in the chimney of the iron factory, and the vast boat port was scattered on the flat and wide river beach several miles long.

What can be seen in the ship administration are European-style factories and buildings, and the office buildings are also European-style, which is much cleaner than the factories on the Bund. At first glance, Hu Chuyuan thought that he had come to Portsmouth in 1879. There were more than a dozen ships docked outside the port, large and small, hundreds of tons, and at least A thousand tons.

There are continuous mountains around Mawei Port and the northern half of the ship's government. Most of them are only two or three hundred meters high, and there are also hillsides less than 100 meters high. Many European-style villas are built facing the mountains, hidden in the shade. The top of the slope to the north is flattened to see a continuous building.

Really.

Hu Chuyuan really thought that he had come to the wrong place. The people accompanying him were generally shocked by the scene in front of him. He never thought that Fuzhou Ship Administration would look like this, which can be described as beautiful and dignified.

It's very interesting.

Thinking about his future career in Fuzhou, Hu Chuyuan also seems to have seen a lot of wonderful future and hope.

This is indeed an almost magical place, which has trained the most famous people in the history of China's modern navy, such as Liu Buchan, Deng Shichang, Lin Taizeng, Ye Zuju, Wei Yuan, Chen Zhao'ao, Zheng Qingli...

As long as it is what Hu Chuyuan wants, it can be found here.

Really, as long as you sit on the throne of Fuzhou Shipping Minister, it is like opening a treasure pot for talents.

A group of people gathered on the dock, ahead of them were several officials in the third and fourth grade official uniforms of the imperial court. Hearing that Hu Chuyuan's ship had arrived, the supervisors and bureau members of the Fuzhou Shipping Administration came one after another.

Hu Chuyuan was also prepared. There were more than 20 people in the accompanying team, and more people will arrive one after another in the future.

He was ahead, and more than 20 people behind him went down and walked all the way along the Banqiao.

The leading person in the crowd wears a second-grade official uniform, about 50 years old, with a ruddy complexion, a slightly dark complexion and a white beard.

He stepped forward and smiled with Hu Chuyuan, "Hu Titao adheres to his father's will and regains control of the ship administration of Fuzhou. It's really gratifying!"

Hu Chuyuan already knows very well about the situation of Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen. Not only did Zhang Baixi and Tu Renshou do the internal affairs, but he also carefully inquired about the details of each official through the Fuzhou Branch of Jiangnan Commercial Bank.

In Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen, only one person has the official title of the second grade.

He is Ye Wenlan.

This is also a very powerful official and businessman. He is a native of Xiamen. He has lived in Fuzhou for many years of business. He traveled to Nanyang and was proficient in various island languages. When Shen Baozhen built the Fuzhou Ship Administration, he was the director. Because of his repeated achievements, he was promoted to the alternate road and made up for the second grade of political envoy.

Hu Chuyuan arched his hand and said, "Lord Ye, I've been looking forward to you!"

Ye Wenlan smiled and said, "Hu Ti, please let me introduce all my colleagues in the ship administration for you. This is Lord Wu Zhengbing, who will be in the Shipping Bureau, and this is Mr. Zhang Baixi, who will be in the Tongyuan Bureau...!"

Fuzhou Ship Administration is different from Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. This is a ship administration office with the same level as the governor's office. It has a large number of officials. It has a shipping bureau, an arms bureau, a mine bureau, a copper yuan bureau, and a telegraph bureau. In addition, there are five departments for copywriting, support, reimbursement, issuance and inspection, and thirteen factories and a ship administration school. In addition, Fujian sailors are also under the jurisdiction of Fuzhou Shipping Administration.

According to the information collected by Hu Chuyuan, Ye Wenlan is the only second-grade official of the ship's government office. Wu Zhengbing and others in the shipping bureau are of three or four grades. The affairs of all departments, as well as the handling, participating and other officials are five or six grades. The affairs and supervision belong to the seven or eight grades, and the rest are not from the eight or nine grades.

The total number of officials, large and small, is 57, which is worth the government office of the Beijing Normal University.

These people gathered in the port. Under the introduction of Ye Wenlan, Hu Chuyuan also said hello one by one. His background and money are so powerful that these people dare not neglect him at all, and they are all careful.

Everyone has set up a banquet in the ship's government government to take the wind and wash the dust for Hu Chuyuan and his party.

He Jing was still in the capital, but before leaving, he had made arrangements for officials to reorganize the Fuzhou Ship Administration Office as Hu Chuyuan's mansion in Fuzhou.

Seeing that Hu Chuyuan had too many attendants, and there were six or seven foreign consultants in it, Ye Wenlan immediately sent someone to clean up a French manor near the ship's government gate for these attendants to live in.

In the afternoon, accompanied by Ye Wenlan and others, Hu Chuyuan first visited the equipment of the shipyard under the shipping administration and the two wooden ships under construction.

In the evening, he returned to the back garden of the ship's government government and lived in Jinghai Hall, where Shen Baozhen had lived for nine years.

This is a place where only the Minister of Ship Affairs of Fuzhou can live, but Hu Chuyuan is the kind of person who is benevolent. He will not be polite to others. He also knew that He Jing deliberately wanted him to live here, that is, to clearly tell these officials of the ship's government - Hu Chuyuan is equivalent to the ship's minister of Fuzhou. He had the final say on this acre of land.

Of course, Hu Chuyuan can't spend all his thoughts and time on Fuzhou Ship Administration like Shen Baozhen.

His current career is very huge, and his annual stable income is more than 10 million taels of silver, which is equivalent to the allocation of ten Fuzhou ship administrations.

Zuo Zongtang and He Jing both understand that they just let Hu Chuyuan do two things. First, they control the overall situation; second, they ensure the finances. They have already arranged the real affairs.

Zhang Baixi, Tu Renshou, and Dai Hongci, the Jinshi in the second year of Guangxu, are the people they arranged, which can also be said to be Hu Chuyuan's faction.

All three of them have one characteristic, that is, they come from a scholarly family and have a profound tutor. Zhang Baixi is a native of Changsha, Hunan Province. He studied under Guo Songtao, the current minister in the five countries of Europe. Tu Renshou is from Hubei. His grandfather Tu Zhishen was the governor of Zhili and had a high reputation. He himself studied under Li Shoulan and was famous for his good at mathematics and Western theory.

Dai Hongci is a native of Nanhai, Guangdong Province. He Jing's fellow villagers are very young and famous for his foreign affairs in the capital.

It has been a year since the three of them entered the Fuzhou Shipping Administration. Zhang Baixi was appointed as the director of the Tongyuan Bureau, Tu Renshou was appointed as the secretary of the Reimbursement Office, and Dai Hongci was appointed as the management of the Shipping Bureau.

Hu Chuyuan estimated that he could only find one of these three people to manage the ship administration instead of himself. While thinking about it, Yan Shizhang led three young and middle-aged officials in.

I have seen him during the day. Hu Chuyuan recognized Zhang Baixi at a glance and said with a smile, "Three of you, please sit down!"

"Thank you for your tone!" Zhang Baixi took the lead in thanking him and sat down with the other two. Then he and Hu Chuyuan said, "I'm waiting for the three of us to come to see you this time to thank him for your recommendation."

Among the three people, Zhang Baixi is the oldest, thirty-two years old. He is not good-looking, thin and lean, with a very fine mustache, with curved eyebrows and restrained eyes.

Tu Renshou behind him is also about 30 years old. He is burly, looks more serious and full of energy. Dai Hongci is only twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He is not tall, with thick eyebrows and a square face, but he looks very alert.

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "There's nothing to thank. I'm willing to recommend you to go out to serve as officials for the benefit of a prefecture and a county. I didn't expect that Lord Zhongtang and the Governor would arrange you here. I'm afraid you're wronged!"

Zhang Baixi immediately said, "It's serious, and we don't feel wronged. Compared with doing nothing in Beijing, it is said to read the folds and picket the wrong words. You can still do practical things here. Now that the imperial court wants to revitalize the sailors with the strength of the whole country, Fuzhou Ship Administration is a very hopeful place. The three of us can work here. I don't know how lucky we are.

Tu Renshou also arched his hand and said, "Yes, my lord, you are really serious. It's really happy to be able to handle the beneficial practices of the country here. We are even more grateful for your recommendation. If there is anything to send us in the future, you can say it directly. We will do our best.

Dai Hongci smiled and said, "Your Excellency, I have the lowest seniority, and I'm already very happy to be an official."

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "Well, let's open the skylight and speak clearly. The ship administration of Fuzhou is particularly important to Lord Zhongtang and the Governor, and more important to the court. I hope that the three adults can work together with me to run the ship administration.

Zhang Baixi led Tu Renshou and Dai Hongci to arch their hands together and said, "Don't worry, you have the kindness of our knowledge, and we will do our best to share the troubles for you!"

Listening to their words, Hu Chuyuan was secretly happy and said: It's cool to have a cronies!

He also thought that recommending others to be an official can be done more. For him, it is just a piece of hand, but for others, it is a big thing to be grateful for life.

What they are talking about now is just a scene. Before Hu Chuyuan was officially transferred to Fuzhou, Zhang Baixi and Tu Renshou had already told Hu Chuyuan a lot of inside information about the Fuzhou Ship Administration Government in advance.

In addition, Hu Chuyuan also sent people in Fuzhou to inquire about the news in advance. He was familiar with the roots of the 57 officials.

If you know it, you should know it. If you know it, you should say it. If you should ask it, you should ask it. It seems unnecessary, but this is the official rule of the Qing Dynasty.

Hu Chuyuan also asked Zhang Baixi, "You have been in the ship's government office for a year. You should know something about the affairs of the ship's government. Can you talk about the troubles of the ship' government office at present?"

The three of them meditated a little and looked at each other.

After a while, Zhang Baixi said, "I would like to mention that the main problem of the ship's government government at present is that there are still a lot of drawbacks, and officials are corrupting. The second is the Fujian sailors are uneven, the personnel are mixed, and the annual military pay and loss are not small. In this way, the official money of 1.16 million taels of silver drawn by the imperial court from Min Customs, Min Tax Bureau and Min Tea Tax Department every year is not offset at all, and only more than 100,000 taels of silver can be used to build ships.

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said to Zhang Baixi, "Try to me in detail!"

"It's good!"

Zhang Baixi nod and then talked about some of the existing problems in the ship's government.

The officials of Fuzhou Ship and Government Office are mainly divided into two categories. The first is the magistrate and county magistrate transferred by Shen Baozhen from all parts of Fujian in his early years. These people are currently mainly responsible for administrative affairs; the second is commercial officials, who are responsible for the procurement of coal and iron machinery and wood.

Did Shen Baozhen's tenure, these two types of officials were still respectful. After Shen Baozhen left, administrative officials embezzled and took bribes, and the situation of false price rebates of commercial officials became more and more intense.

These people want to receive the same gray income as those officials at the same level outside, and have no right to levy taxes. They can only work in their power, buy inferior coal and iron and wood machinery at high prices, and work with businessmen to seek self-interest rebates.

They can get more than 100,000 taels of silver from it every year, but the loss to Fuzhou Ship Administration Government is as high as hundreds of thousands of taels.

After listening to Zhang Baixi's words one by one, Hu Chuyuan only sneered in his heart.

In the political situation of the late Qing Dynasty, no matter which government office or official enterprise has this kind of problem, the ship government office is not a special case. Even if the officials in the government office are dismissed, it is still the same for a group of officials. What's more, these people are at least familiar with the affairs of the ship administration.

Hu Chuyuan had an idea in his heart and said to Zhang Baixi, "Don't worry about this matter. Let's talk about it in the long-term. I still want to continue to visit the factories of the shipping bureau these days. You and the shipping bureau will be accompanied by Lord Wu!"

Zhang Baixi also knew that there were similar problems in various government, and it was useless to be in a hurry. He immediately nodded and said, "Okay, my lord!"

Seeing that it was not late, Hu Chuyuan got up and sent them away. When he came back, he invited Zheng Xitai and Hua Yufang over and asked Zheng Xitai to lead people to take all the accounts of the ship's government's government to verify. Hua's Fang was responsible for leading the American technical consultants to investigate the production status and level of the ship's government's government's government, and bring it as soon as possible. Hand in a complete report.