Just when An Yi and his generals were thinking about recruiting troops, Franklin Roosevelt, who had been inaugurated as President of the United States on March 4, summoned Zhang Xi at the White House.
During this period, Roosevelt did a lot of work, ordering banks across the country to take a holiday, and then convened an emergency session of Congress to pass a series of laws to give him greater power. Today is the day to make all preparations and officially implement his New Deal measures.
The New Deal officially kicked off on this day.
Roosevelt and Zhang Xi discussed economic policies for a while, and felt a little thirsty. He asked the staff to get a cup of coffee for him and Zhang Xi, took a comfortable sip, and then said with a smile:
"Zhang, I heard that China stopped importing the grain we produce, causing the purchase price of grain products nationwide to drop sharply. Is this true?"
"Yes, due to years of civil war, Japan has launched wars in Shanghai and the Great Wall, coupled with continuous famines, China's economic situation is extremely bad and is on the verge of bankruptcy. The purchaser of the 500,000 tons of grain is the Chinese army
An Yi, the general of the Young Faction, who is also my business partner, had to reluctantly give up importing grain from our country due to a sharp drop in his income and was unable to make ends meet." Zhang Xi said with some seriousness.
Roosevelt was very pleased with Zhang Xi's outspokenness about his relationship with An Yi: "I have heard about the situation in China. I deeply regret the civil war in China and Japan's growing ambitions. Originally, I expected hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops to be able to defend the Great Wall.
The front line taught the Japanese army a lesson. Unexpectedly, the war has now spread to the Ping and Tianjin lines. However, the situation in our country is not good now. Starting last month, except for the western areas,
Except New York State and New York State, governors of other states have successively ordered all or part of the closure of banks in their states. The national financial industry has almost collapsed, which is not much better than that of China. Now I am focusing on this area. Zhang, I don’t
The extra energy should be put into industry and agriculture. Once China's agricultural product orders are lost, many farmers who are in urgent need of money will immediately go bankrupt. Do you have any good ideas for this?"
Zhang Xi's face was extremely serious: "I was a little unprepared for this. Fortunately, I contacted some consortiums in the west to build a large number of cargo yards and cold storages. I can absorb some, but no more than I can bear."
Roosevelt naturally understood the relationship between Zhang Xi and the Chinese consortium. He smiled and praised: "Zhang, I appreciate your efforts in the election and support for the New Deal. I heard that the Western Consortium has voluntarily given up on alcohol.
Business, is there such a thing?"
Zhang Xi's heart trembled, but his face remained calm: "Since knowing that the president intends to repeal the 'Prohibition Order,' my friends have decided not to get involved in this kind of business that will bring displeasure to all parties. Nowadays, various consortiums
The investment focus that is more focused is on industries such as finance, media, electronics, medicine, real estate, transportation, department stores, mining and metallurgy. Especially now that the national financial order is in chaos, my friends are determined to contribute to the president in this aspect of finance."
"This is a good thing! You also know that the economic crisis sweeping the world was triggered by a financial crisis caused by crazy speculation. What we need to do most now is to restore people's confidence in our banks. A large number of banks with capital and strength
Re-certification and protection can quickly allow people to stabilize and get into new work and life, so you ask your friends not to have any worries and to make any requests you have!" Roosevelt said with a smile.
Zhang Xi was overjoyed. The meaning of Roosevelt's words was obvious. That is, forget about the past. From now on, as long as you stay close to him, things like smuggling and smuggling by the Western Chinese consortium will be forgotten. However, in the future, you must work harder on the things he ordered.
Son.
Various thoughts flashed through Zhang Xi's mind, but he remained unmoved with a smile on his face. He soon talked about the upcoming "Emergency Banking Law". After chatting for a long time, Roosevelt suddenly asked: "Zhang, what do you mean?
Let’s see, if our chief patron, General An, were to preside over China’s military affairs, would it be better than the current Chairman Chiang Kai-shek?”
"this--"
Zhang Xi was very surprised. He was stunned for a while before shaking his head: "Logically speaking, I should support my partners, but the current situation in China is far more complicated than we imagined. According to General An's reputation, he is not in China now."
One call and hundreds of responses, at least among the veteran generals in the army, are different.
We must support him. Take the Great Wall War as an example. He could only mobilize a few divisions directly under his command. The various warlords did not take him seriously. They were not cooperative in their actions and frequently followed him behind.
Holding back. I dare say that without Chairman Chiang, China would be in chaos!"
Roosevelt frowned slightly and seemed very puzzled: "I have read the newspapers in the past few days. Doesn't it mean that the Chinese people admire General An very much, from north to south, and praise him? According to the reporters stationed in my country by major newspapers in our country, In a recent spot check, General An’s approval rating was as high as 100%
If it is over 90, there should be no problems... You know, I also relied on the support of the people to ascend to the position of president. Why can't it be the case when it is General An's turn? Is it because he is too young and lacks some necessary skills?
Qualifications, or other such things..."
Zhang Xi smiled bitterly: "Since the rule of the Qing Dynasty, China's people have been ignorant and backward for a long time. Less than 5% of the total population is truly thoughtful, educated and enlightened. It is estimated that the urban population surveyed by European and American institutions is not
To one-tenth of this group of people. Many people start from birth
Since the beginning of time, they have never left the countryside where they live. Hundreds of millions of people have never seen a car or a train. Therefore, they just take whatever the warlords and officials above them say, and they even go to great lengths for some one-sided propaganda. Therefore,
The so-called support rate in newspapers cannot represent China
The vast majority of people are completely ignorant of the will of the people, and may even be tempted by some thoughtful people at any time to stand against General An in order to survive and for their families. Now Chairman Chiang occupies the moral position
From the commanding heights, those local warlords and forces dare not act rashly
If one day Chairman Chiang Kai-shek suddenly disappears, some people will definitely jump out to fight for the dominance of the country, and then it will turn into a great melee sweeping the Far East. By then, China's disaster will be far worse than it is now. If Japan takes the opportunity to invade, a country
It is not impossible for a nation to perish and become extinct!”
Roosevelt was silent for a while and shrugged: "Zhang, you are right. It seems that things in China are much more complicated than we imagined. Many things that seem obvious at a glance actually cannot withstand scrutiny. But you can
Can you tell me whether it is possible for General An to reach the top?"
Zhang Xi thought for a long time and finally shook his head: "If General An ignores the interests of the country and the nation and stays in his territory in the southwest to preserve his strength and develop for ten years, there may be hope. Analyzing the history and current situation between China and Japan, the relationship between China and Japan
There must be a decisive battle, once the Sino-Japanese war breaks out
, the powerful Japanese army will surely sweep through large areas of the Central Plains and Jiangnan, but it will also fall into a stalemate due to the lengthening of the front line. After all, China's land is too big for the Japanese to swallow in one bite. By then, if General An's soldiers, who have accumulated a lot of experience for many years, have endured
Going out of the southwest, adopt a step-by-step approach.
Using various means to unite and gradually erode the forces of all parties, and finally fight the Japanese army, it is possible to reach the top. But based on my understanding of him, this possibility is almost impossible. However, General An Yi is a patriot.
It can even be said that he is a tough nationalist, for the sake of the entire country
In the interests of the nation, he will never choose to retreat because of the gap in strength. He will surely lose his strength in wars of attrition again and again. This was the case in the 128th War in Shanghai last year, and the same is true in the ongoing Great Wall War of Resistance.
Therefore, at best he can only be the hero of one party!"
Roosevelt thought thoughtfully: "So, Chairman Chiang is the only suitable candidate to lead China?"
"At present, it seems that it is indeed the case!"
Zhang Xi nodded, and then said with emotion: "This is the difference between politicians and patriots. Politicians can sacrifice everything for their goals, but patriots cannot bear to harm the interests of the country and nation and can only stand up...
But then again, if General An was not such a person, how could he be respected and loved by so many people?"
Roosevelt sighed: "We originally hoped that the impoverished China could quickly end the civil strife and embark on construction, which would partially boost our economy. Now it seems that it will be good to maintain the status quo. By the way, China's southwest region continues to purchase
Our industrial products and bringing in unemployed workers?”
"Yes, since 2029, China has gradually become our indispensable trading partner. In terms of product procurement and import, it has become our second largest trading partner after Russia in recent years... I heard
It is said that in the first year after the economic crisis, the number of technical assistance agreements signed between Russia and our country’s experts reached 70
Multiple projects involving metallurgy, industrial machinery, metal processing, fuel power, petrochemical industry, transportation, agricultural machinery, agricultural irrigation engineering, automobile, ship and aircraft manufacturing and other important economic sectors. As of the end of last year, Russia had received technical assistance
The number of projects increased to 124, with a total value of more than 40 million US dollars
.They established a large number of modern key enterprises during the first five-year plan, especially in new industrial sectors such as steel, machinery, fuel power, chemicals, automobiles, tractors, aircraft, and shipbuilding. Many of them made use of our advanced equipment and technology.
It was even established with the direct help of our experts. I heard that Stalin had
Said, 'In Russia, about two-thirds of large enterprises were established with help or technical assistance from the United States...The rest were mostly established with technical assistance from Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and other countries.
', It seems that this economic crisis has created an opportunity for the rise of Russia as a great power." Zhang Xi shook his head.
Roosevelt smiled lightly: "It's not just about technology. Russia also imports a large amount of our country's machinery, attaches great importance to the introduction of talents, attracts our country's loans, etc. I don't think that in a few years, the huge Russia will become the second largest economic power after the United States.
But now that the global economy is hard to recover from, we have to bite the bullet and swallow it even though we know it is poison. It is a pity that China is not an independent and unified country, otherwise its achievements may not be much worse than Russia's. It is difficult to achieve success in the southwest alone.
What substantial changes?"
At this time, Zhang Xi did not know that this conversation between Roosevelt and him would affect the U.S. policy toward China for more than ten years. He was still secretly happy for his achievements in the past few years:
In fact, thanks to the smuggling of anti-inflammatory drugs such as alcohol, heroin, methamphetamine and aspirin, the machine products shipped to Chinese companies in China, Southeast Asia, Australia and other places are not much worse than those of Russia. In the past four years, the machines exported by the United States have
One-third of the equipment is sold to the Chinese. The year before last, one-tenth of the world's total machine exports were sold to Chinese companies. By last year, this number had risen to 20%, just in southern Sichuan.
import
In total, the import of machinery and equipment accounted for one-thirtieth of the world's total in 2029, and last year it was as high as one-fifteenth. In other words, the development potential of southwest China is definitely not as simple as Roosevelt saw.
, because many export businesses are completed through companies registered in Australia, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, as well as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Netherlands Antilles and other places, only you can understand the flow of these things.
In terms of talent introduction, the southern Sichuan region has more advantages than Russia. Not to mention the suitable temperature and beautiful living environment, but only the cultural and social circle composed of European and American people, as well as freedom of religious belief, it is not what Russia was like in this period.
Comparably, coupled with the negative publicity against the Red Empire that he has been receiving, almost most technical talents who are willing to go abroad choose to work in China. If An Yi can calm down and develop, his future achievements will be limitless.
But the problem is that An Yi is indeed short of money, but this lack of money is different from the central government borrowing money from everywhere to live.
After taking control of southern Sichuan in 1931, An Yi's development focus fell on Xufu and Luzhou. Xufu is known as the first city along the Yangtze River, covering an area of approximately 15,000 square kilometers. With the continuous immigration in the past two years,
influx,population
About six million, it has abundant hydropower and mineral resources, including 5.3 billion tons of coal reserves, 1.5 billion tons of pyrite reserves, and 10 billion tons of rock salt. Luzhou, also known as Jiucheng, is located in Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou
Yunnan Province
, located in the transition zone between the southern edge of the Sichuan Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, with an area of 13,000 square kilometers and a population of more than 4 million. It is the most important agricultural production area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and is extremely rich in biological resources, mineral resources and energy resources. Coal
The reserves are 4.3 billion tons and 3.2 billion tons of pyrite. The combined population of these two places is close to 10 million. With dozens of mining sites springing up across the two places, seven large and medium-sized steel plants have also sprung up.
Rise up from the ground.
The foundation of modern industry is the steel manufacturing industry. Think about it, high-quality steel is needed to make machine tools and machinery, steel is needed to make weapons, vehicles, and ships, steel is needed to build railways, and steel is needed to run factories and engage in construction. There is no steel industry to do this.
Without paving the way, nothing else can develop, so from the very beginning, the development of southern Sichuan has centered around the steel industry.
Xufu and Luzhou are rich in natural resources, but the mining volume of coal and iron ore has been relatively small for a long time. Now, although the mining intensity has been increased and capital from Jiangsu and Zhejiang has been introduced for development, due to the ore being buried too deep, mining has become difficult.
Due to many reasons such as backward technology, the steel industry cannot fundamentally satisfy the needs of the steel industry.
In order to meet the needs of development, An Yi has focused on the layout of the entire southwest region from the beginning. In addition to the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan in southern Sichuan under the jurisdiction of Liu Wenhui, and the confluence of the Jinsha River and the Yalong River, Huili and Dechang sent exploration teams to inspect mineral deposits.
In addition to resources, it is also developing coal and iron ore resources throughout the southwest region.
Qijiang Iron Mine, located in the south of Chongqing, is an old mine with a mining history of more than a thousand years. It was first mined in the Song Dynasty. Two years ago, a smelter in Dongxi established Qianyu Iron Ore Company and leased mining from Liu Xiang, who is based in Chongqing.
After An Yi took over and opened a large number of steel companies in southern Sichuan, more and more iron ore was needed, and the mining intensity of Qijiang iron ore also increased.
The profits were very considerable. Seeing the profits, Liu Xiang took back the mining rights of the iron ore and set up his own company to develop it. After more than two years of development, an industry center centered on Xiaoyutuo was formed, including Daluo, Tutai and Pingdong.
There are large-scale iron ore mining enterprises in five mining areas including Maliutan and Baishi, with an annual output of 200,000 tons of iron ore, all of which are digested by steel companies in southern Sichuan.
Panxian, Shuicheng and Liuzhi in Guizhou have always had a history of mining coal and iron ore. However, due to the rugged roads and the prevalence of banditry in the area, they have not been well developed. Shizhen occupies the western Guizhou and
After northern Guizhou, An Yi sent a geological survey team to this area. After half a year of investigation, it was finally confirmed that
It is determined that the coal field in this area has reliable reserves of more than 50 billion tons, and the reliable reserves within a vertical depth of 500 meters are as high as more than 10 billion tons, and the coal types are complete, the coal quality is good, and the burial is shallow, which is very conducive to development. An Yi thought about it briefly.
It was determined that this place was probably Liupanshui City, which was known as the "Coal City" in later generations.
He developed it as his future coal base, formally established a large-scale mining enterprise, and asked Shi Zhen to send troops to various mines and spend money to repair and widen roads. After entering southern Sichuan in 31, he even sent two divisions of engineering troops.
Drill holes in mountains and build bridges when encountering water, and create a special road from Liupanshui to Xufu.
High-standard highway. Later, with the September 18th Incident and the floods in the Yangtze and Huaihe River basins, a large number of refugees poured into southern Sichuan, bringing with them a steady stream of labor force. Some of them were organized and sent to build the road. By the end of last year, this highway was finally completed.
The construction of the bridge brought much-needed coking coal and iron ore to the industrial development of southern Sichuan.
It is precisely because of the coal in the Liupanshui area that the ten large-scale thermal power stations built in advance in Xufu and Luzhou have come into use, continuously providing power support for steel and other industrial enterprises.
Five small and medium-sized hydropower stations built locally have been put into use, and the industrialization process in southern Sichuan has accelerated a lot.
Originally, in accordance with the pattern of Chinese consortiums in Australia and South America taking advantage of the economic crisis to demarcate sites for mining, it was more economical to directly purchase iron ore and transport it to southern Sichuan than to mine it themselves. However, considering that the future Sino-Japanese war is likely to lose access to the sea, the establishment of
It is very necessary to have an iron ore supply line of its own, and the mining of ore and road construction can provide employment for a large number of people, which is good for promoting the economic development of areas along the way. Therefore, An Yi has implemented two-pronged approach from the beginning.
All must have hard policies.
As of the end of February this year, steel companies in southern Sichuan have achieved a monthly production of 90,000 tons of steel and pig iron. Although it is far less than Russia's monthly production of 500,000 tons, for China, which is poor and has no industrial foundation,
This is already a very scary number, which means that southern Sichuan has more steel to produce machinery and weapons.
In addition to the energy and steel industries, the foundation of industry is the machine tool industry. You must know that machine tools are the basic production equipment of the machinery industry. In addition to general cutting processing, they also have casting, forging, welding, stamping, extrusion and other functions.
,The parts of mechanical products are usually processed by machine tools. The variety, quality and processing efficiency of machine tools directly affect the production technology level of other mechanical products. Therefore, the modernization level and scale of the machine tool industry are a reflection of the degree of industrial development of a country.
One of the important symbols.
The production lines introduced by An Yi are all new generation equipment that are being used by bankrupt companies after the outbreak of the economic crisis or have not yet been unpacked. There is absolutely no problem in terms of precision and advanced nature. In addition, the equipment that came across the ocean from the United States
Skilled technical workers carry out operations. It can be said that compared with other machine tool companies in China, the machine tool industry in southern Sichuan has been better at the starting line from the beginning.
With a complete machine tool industry, various targeted machine tools can be produced according to drawings, such as gear processing machine tools, screw processing machine tools, spline processing machine tools, gantry planers, heavy grinders, universal milling machines, and various boring machines.
However, the development of southern Sichuan cannot wait for machine tools to be produced before slowly building factories and producing machinery and equipment.
At that time, purchasing equipment from the United States was much cheaper than producing it themselves, so machine tool factories were more responsible for training skilled workers and studying new technologies. Each of those technicians recruited from the United States brought dozens of technicians with them.
Students from the Polytechnic University and well-educated technical workers carefully selected from various factories in old Nanchang, talents spread like this.
As of February this year, there are oil refineries, crane factories, welding machine factories, cigarette factories, motor factories, match factories, machine-made sugar factories, miners' lamp factories, electric lamp factories, mining machinery factories, screw factories, glass factories, chemical factories all over southern Sichuan.
Factory and other factories and enterprises have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Due to intensive production and low labor and management costs, various new products quickly occupied the domestic market under the sales of Jiangnan Trading Company, and were promoted by Nanhua Company to Southeast Asia, Australia and
South America and other places.
Anyi is short of money now. The development and growth of various industrial zones, the smoothing and widening of roads connecting the southwest, the exploration and mining of mines in the two places, the research and development of new weapons and new technologies, the electric light and telephone projects in the two places, investment in education,
Infrastructure construction, food and drink, ammunition consumption, etc. for the hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, all of which have not received a penny of allocation from the central government.
It is self-raised. However, with the vigorous development of industry in southern Sichuan, new products are launched on the market every day, and the profits earned are getting bigger and bigger. Many companies in the eastern coastal areas have gone bankrupt. It is not so much affected by the global economic crisis.
And the impact of frequent wars, rather it is the huge defeat of the old small workshop-style production and management against new technologies and advanced productivity, but most people can't see through it.
Therefore, the temporary predicament is a good thing for An Yi. At least Chiang Kai-shek and other key officials of the Central Committee, who are gradually seeing the inside story of the development of southern Sichuan, have to weigh and weigh carefully what they do to An Yi.
In the Miyun camp, it was already late at night after discussing with Hu Jialin, Lu Yixuan, Yang Jiuxiao and others. At this time, Lin Yaodong walked in and handed An Yi a telegram:
"The Nazi Party led by Hitler from Berlin won 43.8% of the votes in the parliamentary election, further consolidating the Prime Minister's throne."
An Yi's heart moved. He remembered the scene when he saw Mustache during his last trip to Europe. He secretly shouted "here he comes", took the message and read it carefully.
It turned out that in the German presidential election held on April 10 last year, Hitler unexpectedly won 36.8% of the votes. Although he lost to the current President Hindenburg, he had already demonstrated his strong strength. The Congress was held on July 31 last year.
In the election, the Nazi Party won 37.3% of the votes and 230 seats, becoming the center of the Congress.
The largest party, on January 30 this year, with the support of the overthrown Hohenzollern royal family, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany. Then on February 1, he issued Proclamation No. 1, claiming that President Hindenburg announced the dissolution of the Reichstag.
Hold new elections. Hitler believed that he would be sure to win the election, thus excluding other parties in the coalition government,
Establishing a system of one-party rule. Hitler took one step at a time. On February 4, he promulgated the "Law for the Protection of the German People" to broadly restrict opposition parties. On February 6, he dissolved the Prussian State Assembly and made Prussia's acting interior minister, Goering of the Nazi Party.
was able to take over the police station, creating conditions for the Nazi Party to seize power in Prussia. On February 27, concocted
The arson attack on the Reichstag building was blamed on the German Communists, which set off an unprecedented anti-communist wave in Germany. The "Law for the Protection of the People and the State" was quickly promulgated, authorizing the government to take over the power of various states. Now, the Nazi Party is in the new era
Having won a resounding victory in the parliamentary election, Hitler will surely become more arrogant and get closer to his throne as head of state.
An Yi was greatly surprised by Hitler's endless methods. In comparison, Chiang Kai-shek's political skills were much inferior, not to mention himself.
After thinking about it, An Yi immediately ordered to send a congratulatory message to Hitler, congratulating the Nazi Party on the success of the election, and striving to obtain the maximum benefits before Germany tilted towards Japan.