Chapter 294: Stepping in the Snow and Entering Taihang (Big Chapter)
Please don't blame Dong Shuheng for his poor sense of the times. He is just a scumbag with a lot of cocky attitude.
In the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the mid-19th century, having three wives and four concubines was a normal thing, but he always had to show off.
He was not born to be a stud.
Emotional intelligence is too low, bad review!
The queen has no morals, bad review!
The next day, before dawn, a group of carriages left the Presidential Palace in a hurry.
The streets of Jiangning are silent. There is no urban greening in this era.
The main streets in the city are bare stone roads.
The horses stepped on it and made a "dah-dah" sound.
There are shops on both sides, and only the curtains protruding from the eaves of the shops make the empty street look less monotonous.
Dong Shuheng looked at Jiangning City through the gap in the window.
Well, if possible, we should do some greening.
Occasionally, you can see bursts of white mist rising from the breakfast stalls on the street corners.
People in Jiangning like to eat wontons, and they like to add the store's carefully prepared spicy oil to the soup every time they eat them.
Drink a bowl in winter, no matter how cold the weather is, you can warm your whole body and drive away the coldness.
However, Dong Shuheng had already had breakfast. The family members knew that he was leaving today, so they all got up early.
The family had a breakfast together.
Breakfast is wontons made in the kitchen.
…
Last night, Dong Shuheng entrusted Lu Feiyan's affairs to Wei Yuzhen.
Let her tell her mother and other two daughters on her behalf.
The scumbag doesn't know how to speak.
Dong Shuheng, who was sitting in the carriage, was thinking about his trip to Taihang.
President Dong Shuheng, who has many things to do, is naturally not just visiting a woman and his son.
Taihang was very important to him and Huai Haijun.
The map of China in later generations is like a rooster.
Open the gd map on your mobile phone, tap it with your middle finger and thumb and slide towards the middle, and say the mysterious mantra of the bow-headed people: "Little little little..."
You will be surprised to find that this is the heart of China.
The channels that run through the Taihang Mountains are like blood vessels flowing through the heart.
To the north here is the Mongolian grassland, and it is Chahar where the water and grass are the most abundant.
To the east is the North China Plain, the essence of northern China.
To the south is Henan, which is the hinterland of the Central Plains and a populous province.
Go west into the Shanxi Basin and connect with Guanzhong.
Apart from the scarcity of cultivated land, a place like this seems to have all its advantages.
When Dong Shuheng thought of planting nails here, it was because he remembered that this was the largest base for fighting against Japanese pirates.
Countless dramas are filmed with this place as the background, even a novice should know this place.
The convoy arrived at the riverside dock. The river was shrouded in mist, and the two opposite sides could not be seen. A fleet of river navy ships was already waiting on the dock.
This is the fleet of the Inland River Navy. Navy Commander Zhang Qiang and his men are waiting for Dong Shuheng on the dock.
The guard group has already boarded the ship. They stayed at the military camp outside the city last night. They have already arrived at the dock first.
"Report to the President, the canal navy has been prepared. Please board the ship." Seeing Dong Shuheng get off the carriage surrounded by internal guards, Zhang Qiang hurriedly greeted him.
"Thank you for your hard work." Dong Shuheng returned the military salute.
He wore a crisp formal suit today.
Nowadays, this kind of formal wear, which is similar to the Chinese tunic suit of later generations, is very popular.
It was first changed from the regular uniforms of the Huaihai Navy to the work uniforms of the military government, and then spread to the people.
The Manchu and Qing Dynasty official uniforms that looked like beasts had long been abandoned by the Huai Navy.
Now that he has grown short hair and wears short clothes, Dong Shuheng is more confident in his appearance.
Coupled with the superior temperament developed since the last issue, people naturally feel close to him.
Dong Shuheng got on his own steamboat. This ship was exclusive to Dong Shuheng.
This ship has been modified with a new steam engine, which can run extremely fast in the water.
Dong Shuheng's fast steamboat has no offensive power, but its escape speed is absolutely top-notch.
The living facilities on board are complete and comparable to those on a yacht. This is why Dong Shuheng chose to take his own fast steamboat.
After boarding the ship, Dong Shuheng got some sleep. He was very tired last night.
It was already noon when I woke up.
The fleet has arrived at Huai'an Prefecture along the canal.
Dong Shuheng came to the deck to get some air, and Wei Yuxiang followed closely behind him.
The farmland on both sides of the river is planted with winter wheat, and it is green as far as the eye can see.
The navy passed through and the merchant ships gave way, and the journey was smooth.
On the canal, the navy moved forward at its fastest speed.
Dong Shuheng didn't come out for a long time this time, so Dong Shuheng was not ready to disembark midway.
You can only see the changes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait from the boat.
Huai'an Prefecture is mainly based on agriculture, and there is no heavy industry here.
Most of what Dong Shuheng saw was farmland.
Many farmlands along the river were newly opened after the river embankments were repaired.
The river mud dug out during the construction of river embankments is the upper layer of these new fields.
Therefore, the green wheat seedlings in these fields are growing very well, and the soil exposed between the rows and ridges is dark, which is completely different from the loess in other places.
In the middle of the large farmland, you can see a village every other distance.
The stable social environment in the past two years, coupled with Huaihai Navy's reduction of agricultural taxes and the abolition of Ding taxes and corvee.
Farmers' lives have been greatly improved. The land distribution policy has greatly increased the number of rural homesteaders. These talents are the foundation of rural development.
Of course, Huai Haijun’s farm also promoted rural development in disguise.
The farm's planting concept can drive agricultural technological innovations among surrounding farmers.
You know, ordinary people are not capable of agricultural research and development. Landlords are capable, but they don't know how to do it.
In addition, ordinary farmers generally do not try to grow new crops. Therefore, high-yield crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes have been introduced to China for hundreds of years, but they have not yet been fully popularized.
However, the farm is able to integrate resources to do agricultural research and development and try to grow new crops.
In later generations, China's rural areas once again tried to promote farm-based planting because this planting model was indeed more efficient than the scattered small-scale farmer model.
When the industrial layout reaches a certain level in the future, Dong Shuheng will still prepare to promote the farm-based planting model.
Even if the Manchus are destroyed in the future, Huai Haijun's farm will continue to develop. Moreover, Dong Shuheng will support more individuals to establish farms.
After cultivating the land, there will be a lot, a lot!
After arriving in Xuzhou, tall chimneys can be seen from time to time on both sides of the canal, with black smoke continuously emitting from the chimneys.
In later generations, this meant environmental pollution, and generally only such factories were found in backward places.
Developed places have already phased out these polluting factories.
People can't help but show contempt after seeing it.
But now, these chimneys are full of beauty in Dong Shuheng's eyes.
This represents the power of industry. These heavy industry enterprises are the basis for Huaihai Navy's industrialization.
Until the mid-20th century, coal and steel output were still indicators of a country's industrial strength.
In the ranking of industrial capabilities, these two indicators occupy a large proportion.
In the 1950s, we also put forward the slogan of catching up with the United States and England in terms of steel production.
Now Xuzhou, Jiangsu and Pingxiang, Jiangxi are the two major coal production bases of Huaihai Navy. The coal mines in Pingxiang are still in their infancy, while the coal mines in Xuzhou are already on the right track.
In addition, it is also the main steel production area of Huaihai Navy.
At the same time, there are also some foundries and large machinery manufacturing plants here. Huai·Ke Group's first railway locomotive manufacturing plant was also built here.
The fleet continued to move forward, and Dong Shuheng saw a steel railway bridge across the canal from a distance.
This bridge passes the railway connecting Xuzhou and Haizhou. The coal and iron ore produced in Xuzhou can be transported to Haizhou by railway and directly reach the seaside port.
The railway has a branch line in Haizhou that leads directly to the port.
Among the Huaihaihai railway system, the Xuhai section was completed and opened to traffic earlier.
From Xuzhou to the south, the railway extended to Fengyang Prefecture, which was the location of Bengbu in later generations, then to Luzhou, and then southeast to Pukou.
From Haizhou southward to Yancheng, Dafeng, Dongtai, Gaoyou, and Pukou of Yangzhou. The entire railway goes around Jiangsu and Anhui.
Dong Shuheng's idea of building a railway bridge over the Yangtze River is still in the conceptual stage.
It is currently difficult to implement.
Now Huaihai Navy can only solve existing problems in railway construction first.
If Dong Shuheng remembers correctly, it would have been another hundred years in his previous life before the first cross-river bridge appeared in Wuhan.
After passing Xuzhou, we arrived in Shandong. The area near the canal in Shandong was dominated by the Huaihai Navy. Although the locals were still officials of the Qing court.
However, under the operation of Guangxi Bank of China, cities close to the canal are basically the territory of the Qinggang, and the local officials basically dare not interfere with the canal.
The Huaihai Navy's canal navy patrolled here normally, but the local officials just turned a blind eye.
No one wants to cause trouble for themselves. People who are nosy are likely to encounter bad luck after going out, either drowning or being hit by a carriage.
As soon as you enter the boundary of Shandong, you can clearly see the difference.
This can be seen from the houses in the villages on both sides of the canal.
After Chinese people have enough food and clothing, the first thing they consider is improving their living environment.
If you live in a rural area, you will feel this very clearly.
However, the lives of the people in Shandong are not as bad as Dong Shuheng imagined.
Shandong's new army has indeed contributed to maintaining the stability of Shandong over the past year. Banditry in Shandong has been basically eliminated.
As long as there are no troubled times, people can still survive no matter what they do, relying on their own hands.
I am afraid of natural disasters and man-made disasters.
Then the people will really have no way to survive.
In addition, Huai Haijun spared no effort to immigrate from Shandong to the Far East.
It also reduces the local population pressure. With fewer people and more land, the people can still live even if the land is annexed.
Because landowners rent out land, it can also be regarded as a business activity.
When there were only a few people in the area, the common people had no choice but to agree to the landlord's harsh land rent conditions in order to survive and farm.
Now Huaihaihai immigration can be said to have added a choice for everyone.
If the land rent set by your landlord is too high, then we will apply to immigrate. At least we can have enough to eat. If we leave our hometown, just leave our hometown. It is better than starving to death.
Landlords cannot recruit tenants if the land rent is too high, and they cannot cultivate much land on their own.
Therefore, immigration becomes more difficult later on.
However, Dong Shuheng has another option: one is to wait for two years and arrange for immigration to visit relatives in his hometown.
In the village of Dong Shuheng's previous life, many people went out to work and prospered, and then returned to the village to show off.
When he leaves the village again, a group of people will follow him.
Therefore, migrant workers in cities tend to cluster together. Workers in one industry or factory often come from the same place.
After two years have passed and the immigrants' lives have stabilized, Huai Haijun can ask the old immigrants to go back and recruit people.
Another method is to arm the immigrants, drive the army directly there, and then transform the local area into a construction corps.
This is similar to the current immigration of workers from farms.
The boat sailed to Linqingzhou, Shandong Province, just in the early morning.
Dong Shuheng and others got off the boat and changed their horses.
Most of the supplies carried were placed on military carriages with huge wheels.
Dong Shuheng and others planned to ride directly through Zhengding Prefecture in Zhili, which was probably Shijiazhuang in later generations.
Their destination was Jingxing County, west of Zhengding Prefecture.
Where is the base camp of the Huai Navy in the southeast of the Taihang Mountains.
Stationed here is the second regiment of the Taihang Column.
The previous formation of this regiment was cavalry, and it was this second regiment that fought all the way to Mobei.
After arriving in Mobei, the second regiment was reorganized into the second cavalry brigade. The establishment of this second regiment was freed up.
Now this second regiment is newly formed and is a pure infantry regiment.
Because Jingxing is located at the southernmost point of Zhili and has the lightest defensive pressure, the rebuilt Second Regiment was placed here.
The deployment of the Taihang Column will naturally be reported to the Huaihai Navy headquarters.
So Dong Shuheng knew where to find Lu Feiyan's residence as quickly as possible.
An army of two thousand people galloped on the plains of Hebei.
Even if the Qing army knew that there was such a cavalry team, no one would dare to come out and ask questions.
They will just guard the city gate firmly, with the cat behind the gate, and then report to the top.
This place is very close to Henan, and sometimes bandits come to rob.
It was difficult to see clearly at night, so the Qing army would only think it was the Nian army crossing the border.
The Taihang Column would sometimes take the initiative to attack outsiders and punish some unscrupulous landlords and bullies.
In the early morning, just after dawn, Dong Shuheng found that the surrounding mountains were getting higher and higher, and there were more and more mountains.
It looks like we have reached the mountainous area.
Pan Qiliang, who looked silly but looked silly at the same time, came to Dong Shuheng and reported: "President, according to the markings on the map, there is a forward post of the Taihang Column two kilometers ahead."
The Taihang Column has formed a tacit understanding with the Qing government in the past two years.
The Taihang Column set up bunker posts at strategic locations around the Taihang Mountains.
As long as the Qing army did not attack the Taihang Column, the Taihang Column would generally not attack the large cities outside the mountains.
Gradually, a dividing line was gradually formed between the two.
"Qiliang, please send someone to contact the front. We did not notify you in advance to avoid misunderstandings."
"It's the president."
Pan Qiliang left to make arrangements, while the guard group repaired in place for a while.
Although everyone was wearing military coats, their hands and feet were still stiff from the cold while running wildly on their horses.
Dong Shuheng jumped off the horse and touched the big black horse's forehead to express comfort.
Horses, like many pets, sometimes need physical contact from their owners to cultivate affection.
The big black horse snorted, and Dong Shuheng grabbed a handful of soybeans from the small bag hanging on the saddle and placed it in the palm of his hand.
The big black horse turned his head consciously, rolled his lips and rolled the soybeans into his mouth.
"Huh, foodie." Dong Shuheng laughed and scolded.
Wei Yuxiang on the side put his hands on his waist and twisted around.
"Yuxiang, what's wrong? Is this too much to bear?"
"I'm a scholar, how can I compare with these vulgar warriors!" Wei Yuxiang said jokingly.
"A real man must have a good waist. Which girl will care whether you are a scholar or a warrior?" Dong Shuheng and his second uncle often joked like this.
Everyone understood it tacitly and never felt embarrassed because Wei Yuzhen was caught in the middle.
"You, please ride more in the future, I'm sure it will be of great use to you."
The soldiers at the outpost did not dare to let people into the mountains without authorization, and replied that they would report it to the superiors.
So Dong Shuheng and the others have to wait a little longer.
Dong Shuheng simply asked Pan Qiliang to arrange for the soldiers to repair on the spot and have breakfast.
This is already the boundary of the Taihang Column, so there is no need to worry about being discovered by the Qing army.
The marching pot was set up, and the cooking soldiers added water to the pot. Then they found firewood and put it on the bottom of the pot to burn it.
After the water boiled, the soldiers put in the instant noodles, seasoning packets, and dried seaweed that they had brought with them. After a while, the pot of noodles was ready.
Everyone used chopsticks to pick the noodles into their lunch boxes at the edge of the pot, and then poured a ladle of soup over them with a ladle.
Taking advantage of the heat, you slurp it up and eat it. Some people are afraid of burning it and even open their mouths to take a breath when they eat it.
"President, your breakfast." Wei Yuxiang came over and ordered a portion for Dong Shuheng.
Not to mention, I haven’t eaten instant noodles for a long time. Seeing the soldiers eating them so deliciously makes me a little greedy.
About a quarter of an hour passed.
"Da da da da..." There was a sound of horse hoofbeats, and a dozen officers and soldiers of the Taihang Column in black uniforms galloped over.
From the guard regiment, a squad of soldiers immediately mounted their horses to greet him.
The opponent slowed down his horse and stopped.
At this time, Dong Shuheng had already recognized that the person leading the other side was Xu Yue, the new leader of the Second Regiment.
These officers at regiment level and above had basically met Dong Shuheng alone before taking up their posts.
"Qiliang, that's Commander Xu, let them come over."
Pan Qiliang hurried over and said hello.
Only then did Xu Yue and the others lead their horses and trotted over.
Xu Yue has a Chinese character face, is not tall, and looks very strong.
"Hello, President, Xu Yue trotted over and respectfully saluted with a military salute."
"Well, thank you for your hard work. Have you had breakfast?"
"Report to the President, he has already served his humble position."
"Okay, wait a minute after you arrange things in the regiment and take us to Commander Lu's place."
When Dong Shuheng came this time, he did not tell the Taihang Column his itinerary in advance.
If Xu Yue leads the way, a lot of trouble will be saved.
ps: The 5,000-word chapter is divided into parts. The beginning of this chapter is written for the readers to criticize. Well, you can criticize the protagonist, but don’t criticize the author, that’s it!