Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

After the dust settled, Liu Ye didn't have the time to stay in the capital for long, so he took his people and ran back to Jinan, Shandong.

Guo Songtao's face flushed crimson upon seeing Liu Ye. He was undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of this incident. He had just been appointed Governor-General for a few days, and now he had been promoted to Governor-General. Without Liu Ye's support and lobbying, this would have been impossible. Putting aside other things, among the twenty Governors-General in the eighteen provinces of the Qing Empire, his experience was the least. He had only been in office for less than four months. He didn't know how many years he would have to wait in line to be promoted to Governor-General!

"My dear brother, how did this matter turn out like this? Without you at the helm of this vast Shandong province, no one can manage it..."

Guo Songtao asked with a guilty look on his face.

Liu Ye smiled and replied, "Alright, big brother, I haven't congratulated you yet. Once you get the position of Governor of Shandong, you can show your talents! According to the plan we two brothers have made, we should work hard. We have already completed three years, but four or five months have passed. If we don't speed up, we will fail!"

Guo Songtao's face straightened as he replied, "Brother, please relax. Even if I die of exhaustion, I will achieve your three-year goal. Look, in the month you were away, our Yanzhou Coal Plant and Laiyang Iron Plant have already started up, and the factory buildings are almost completed. Zhang Chunping is now very busy, running back and forth between Yanzhou and Laiyang to get them into production as soon as possible, but he is very tired..."

Liu Ye was overjoyed. He really had found a treasure. Zhang Chunping, this guy was really a guy who could get things done!

Liu Ye continued, "Brother, I've transferred Li Junfeng to Jinan for you. He's a trusted governor. He's pragmatic and capable, so you'll have to make good use of him. As for the other prefectures, you can handle it yourself. Promote those who should be promoted and deal with those who should be dealt with. To protect you, I've even driven away that old man Xing Mingtang and invited an iron-faced devil, Ding Baozhen, the prefect of Changsha. He's no ordinary man. He's very good at governing both the army and the people, and he's impartial and fair. Quite a few corrupt officials have fallen under his command. You'll have to use this ghost-head knife well..."

Guo Songtao nodded and replied, "Ding Baozhen, I once dealt with him when I followed Zeng Guofan to suppress the Taiping Rebellion. He is indeed a remarkable figure..."

Liu Ye thought to himself, it's more than amazing. If it weren't for my appearance, Ding Baozhen would have been the Governor of Shandong now. It has to be said that I and Guo Songtao snatched his position. If this person can really work together with me, I will have to compensate him well in the future. Ding Baozhen, he is a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty!

Guo Songtao continued, "My dear brother, there is something even more exciting..."

Liu Ye was stunned and asked, "What could be more exciting than the simultaneous construction of a coal plant and an iron plant?"

Guo Songtao laughed and said, "First, you angrily beheaded Hebita and his son, and dealt with a large number of the old soldiers who violated the rules in the Eight Banners garrison. This can be regarded as revenge for Qiao Zhiyong. This man is really a character. Not only did he not want the loss of 80,000 taels of silver, he also took out 2 million taels of silver in one go, 200,000 of which was used as wages for the allied forces, and the remaining 1.8 million taels was used to request the right to invest in Qilu Bank. 2 million taels of silver is really a generous gift. You can't find such a generous person in the whole of Shandong!"

Liu Ye was secretly delighted, and somewhat dismissive of Guo Songtao's surprise. Two million taels of silver—was that a lot? It was probably just a drop in the bucket for the Shanxi merchants. The world is bustling with profit, and the world is bustling with profit. If he continued to toss around in Shandong Province, he was afraid the shrewd Shanxi merchants would flock to him. They were the most astute of the Qing Dynasty. In the previous time and space, Qiao Zhiyong, after acting as agent for the imperial treasury and indemnity payments, even amassed a capital of over 100 million taels! Qiao Zhiyong, now, was still a long way from his peak!

"Aside from Qiao Zhiyong's case, as soon as Shandong Province released its various policies to support industry and commerce, wealthy merchants and gentry from all over began to invest huge sums of money in setting up businesses. In just over a month, the Qilu Bank has already loaned out over three million taels of silver. By the end of the year, it's easy to break through six million taels. Compared to those usurious loan sharks, the interest rates at our Qilu Bank are much more generous..."

In just over a month, a bank loaned out three million taels of silver. The motivation of Shandong private businessmen to make money is very strong. Three million taels, plus the funds they need to invest, will be a dizzying number!

Liu Ye was also feeling a bit dizzy. Three years! Three years! These wealthy businessmen, benefiting from tax cuts and exemptions, would likely prosper like wildfire. Even if other provinces tried to follow suit, Shandong, with its first-mover advantage, wouldn't be afraid. If Shandong Province truly wanted to become a wealthy province, it couldn't rely solely on government investment. It needed the power of the people, the unleashed power of the people!

Liu Ye said in a deep voice, "Brother, in a word, we must implement our policy. It is strictly forbidden for any government office to impose levies on these factories, mines and merchants. Anyone who dares to take advantage of it, no matter who it is, will be severely punished. If all else fails, we can use those heads as a sacrifice. Don't be soft-hearted at this stage. When Ding Baozhen takes office, we must block this barrier tightly!"

Guo Songtao was shocked. He naturally understood what Liu Ye meant. Once these government offices made reckless moves, the plan formulated by the two men would fail completely. The layers of levies and exploitation were definitely not something these newly started industries and businesses could bear.

"Don't worry, my dear brother. Just leave this matter to me! I plan to set up a supervisory team in the Censorate and secretly deploy them to various prefectures to strictly monitor the actions of local officials. Otherwise, relying solely on these few people in Jinan to monitor the entire 108 prefectures and counties in Shandong is simply a pipe dream!"

"good idea!"

Liu Ye shouted, "Brother is right. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. We shouldn't use government officials as the supervisory team. We should recruit people from the training army. After all, mutual protection among officials is a typical feature of the current court. We can't trust them. I only trust the people I have trained myself!"

Drawing troops from the training army? This is certainly a good thing. They will be very handy to use and I can be absolutely assured!

Guo Songtao was naturally delighted to receive such strong support from Liu Ye.