Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1810 Steady Progress

Just when Xu Xiangdong had to stay in Vladivostok to "celebrate the Spring Festival" with a group of people, the Jiaodong Peninsula in the first month of 1680 was also ushering in the most festive day of the year.

Because in the second half of last year, a large-scale earthquake occurred in the Hebei area (the earthquake was felt in several neighboring provinces), tens of thousands of people were killed and injured, and even the city of Beijing collapsed and more than [-] houses were damaged. During the period of disaster relief and pensions, there was not much energy to engage in east and west at all, so the four prefectures in the east and west of Shanxi also stopped, and the small-scale harassment wars that had been going on along the Xinhe River in Jiaolai all the year round also stopped, which made the people on the east bank very happy. While not adapting, he was also greatly relieved.

In Yantai County, the center of the rule of the East Coast people, Liu Jianguo, the leader of the Denglai pioneering team and the commander of the Denglai security guard, just watched the famous song "The Peony Pavilion" in a famous theater outside the city, and then went straight to the railway station, intending to take the train to New Year's Eve in Fukuyama County.

Yantai Railway Station was built in the middle of last year. It was designed by Sun Dapeng, a famous architect on the east coast, and supervised by the South Railway Company.Steam locomotives are not the latest Star of La Plata series, but rather old-fashioned barbarian series, but they are already very good on the land of Denglai, where trains first appeared. It can be said to be the enlightenment of modern industrial civilization Not too much.

Behind the locomotive hung a modest eight carriages, as usual a tender carriage, six freight carriages, and a final passenger carriage.The six freight cars were filled with cured meat and salted fish from Blackwater, honey and tobacco from North Korea, and some fragmented handicrafts from Japan. In the passenger car, Liu Jianguo, the top leader of the Blackwater Pioneering Team, was sitting. and accompanying guards.

The train they were on had been overhauled several times before, and the drivers and passengers were veterans stationed from the mainland with high salaries. The train was really stable and fast, and it only took less than an hour. I blew the whistle and drove into the red and colorful Fushan County Railway Station. Although Fushan County has built a railway five or six kilometers to the south, there is no need to go any further, and the train cannot be allowed to go to the wilderness Let's celebrate the new year.

And when it comes to this railway, it is impossible not to mention the construction progress of the now eye-catching Jiaoyan Railway.According to the original plan, the railway running through the Jiaodong Peninsula was started at the same time from Yantai, Taocun, and Jiaozhou. It has been built for almost a year now, and the northern section has been repaired for about [-] kilometers. , Yantai to Fushan County can already be put into operation; the middle end is more embarrassing, the construction of Taocun is less than ten kilometers to the north, the progress is slightly slow, and there is a lot of potential to be tapped; the progress in the south is the fastest, Jiaozhou Port to The entire line between agricultural counties and Jimo counties has been opened to traffic. The mileage of this section is about [-] to [-] kilometers, which is not short.

These three sections of railways add up to almost 75-80 kilometers, which is more than one-third of the total mileage of the railway, but it only took a little over a year.However, considering that the local governments along the railway have done a lot of preparatory work before this, it must be very convenient to build in the first year, but it may be slower from the second year, so the entire Jiaoyan Railway If it is completed, it may take about three years under the premise of continuous funding, provided that the Denglai pioneering team government does not continue to increase the number of labor input on this basis.

Unlike the local officials of the Qing court, the elderly and gentry on the east bank are not popular to greet them (this is not nonsense, Denglai was turned into a white ground in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and the local order completely collapsed. It has only been more than 30 years. Senior gentry who came here), but there was still some ostentation: all the main officials below the magistrate of Fushan County were present, and there was also a band seconded from the Third Division of the Denglai New Army.

The band played the national anthem of the east bank, and Liu Jianguo got off the train with a smile on his face, and then shook hands with the officials of Fushan County one by one. With hard work and hard work, I hope that in the coming year, I will continue to work hard and build Fushan County into a kingly paradise."

"No hard work, no hard work, everything should be done." The magistrate of Fushan County is an old man over 30 years old. He was an officer of the Dashun Peasant Army in his early years. He followed Guo Sheng to Shandong, and later entered the system of Dongan people. After being together for [-] years, he became the county magistrate of Yantai.The position of Fukuyama county magistrate does not require you to be so smart or capable. Economic development does not require you to worry too much. Anyway, it is enough to provide good services around Yantai. What this position needs most is the smooth uploading and issuing and the determination to execute orders. And he undoubtedly has all these points, and he has done a good job, so he has been sitting as the magistrate of Fushan County, a large county with [-] to [-] people, for many years.

"Next year, we must work harder and not relax. I, Liu, are in a hurry." Liu Jianguo turned his head and shook his hand again, and said, "The Jiaolai Xinhe defense line is still under construction. It has not been completed. Fushan County, as one of the counties aided by the rear, will continue to pay for food, money, and grain next year. Under the unified deployment of the Jiaolai River Defense Command, you will complete your own work. Jiaoyan The section of the railway between your county and Taocun will continue to send people and food. The Southern Railway Company will pay some personnel employment fees appropriately, but it is definitely not enough. You must be mentally prepared. Of course, your county The construction of the village itself cannot be left behind. I know that you are doing a lot of water conservancy. This is very good and very important, and I also support it. If it is done well, not only the people in Fushan County will benefit, but the army and civilians in Yantai will also benefit. But, if this is the case , Is the task a bit onerous, you have to be aware of it yourself, and don't let the people have turmoil."

In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that the entire counties of the Denglai Pioneering Team—especially the counties near the Rubber-Smoke Railway—are like a taut string, with all kinds of work overwhelming. The young and strong folk were also severely expropriated.If this were placed in the ancient feudal dynasties like Ming and Qingshun, there would have been large-scale civil unrest due to various reasons, because the corvee was too heavy!However, fortunately, the system and governance methods of the people on the east bank are somewhat different from those in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The gentry in the middle took advantage of the plunder, oppressed and exploited lightly (in ancient times, the corvee was likely to drag down a family), and the upper class also distributed a large amount of money and food. Subsidies, the people at the bottom have a certain amount of savings because they have averaged the land for more than 30 years, so they have finally supported it until now.Although the people can already be regarded as full of complaints and complaints, but there will not be any large-scale turmoil. After all, it has not yet reached that point, and the reputation of the East Coast Army is not fake. No one dares to make trouble easily.

Fortunately, after the construction of the Jiaolai Xinhe Line and the Jiaoyan Line Railway, many places can breathe a sigh of relief. After all, the construction of the Pingrong Railway has not yet had a shadow. Whether it is the Denglai Pioneering Team or the Southern Railway Company, It is probably not possible to go to the Mapingrong Line when the Jiaoyan Line has just opened to traffic. It is impossible and unnecessary.

Liu Jianguo stayed in Fushan County until the fourth day of the first lunar month.On this day, he personally went to the railway construction site, met with more than 3000 civilians who started the construction in the early stage, and distributed some bacon and salted fish to everyone. At the same time, he also paid two yuan for each person. Suddenly, it also caused thunderous cheers on the construction site, and morale rose slightly.

Afterwards, he and 400 recruits from Fushan County—the recruits of the [-]th Division of the Denglai New Army located in Taocun, and Fushan County supplied [-] people—walked to the Taocun Railway Station in the south, intending to visit About [-]% of the Fourth Division of the New Army has been formed at once, and by the way, a batch of New Year's goods are also distributed to them-the New Year's goods are the supplies that came with them by train, and they have changed carriages in Fushan County to Taocun.

The 7500th Division of the Denglai New Army in Taocun has three infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment and several regiments directly under its jurisdiction. The total strength is about [-] people. very high.The headquarters of this division and an infantry regiment are stationed in Taocun. The cavalry regiment will move to Laiyang County in the future, and the other two infantry regiments will take turns defending among major cities in Dengzhou such as Wendeng, Weihai, Ninghai Prefecture, and Rongcheng.Of course, if there is a situation ahead, it is not ruled out that this division gathers its forces, and the whole division marches westward to the Jiaolai New River, and guards the river defense together with the Third Division of the Denglai New Army that has been formed long ago.

After the formation of the fourth division of the new army, the fifth division of the new army in Zhejiang will also be completed as soon as possible. Make room for division preparation.After all, the Jiaolai Xinhe defense line is extremely long. In the future, although the river is wide, the fortifications are strong, and the firepower is fierce, it will still require a sufficient number of soldiers to defend.If all the old army is transferred away, then at least three whole divisions, or more than 2.2 troops, will be needed to fill each node, and then the second line will need some mobile troops (at least 1-2 people, and the old army can be used temporarily) replace) to check for leaks and make up for vacancies, so that the entire defense line can sit back and relax, and Denglai can sit back and relax.

Liu Jianguo is of course very clear about this matter, and has been working on it.It's just that reducing the old army and taking back the territory has always been a very sensitive matter, and if it is not done well, it will force people to rebel (this is not without precedent).So this kind of thing can only slowly find opportunities, slowly eliminate them, and use as gentle a way as possible to reduce the military power in the hands of the generals of the servant army, and finally achieve a smooth transition. Any hasty behavior may lead to unpredictable consequences, so we must be cautious. Be cautious.

Liu Jianguo watched the parade of the [-]th Infantry Regiment (main regiment) of the [-]th Division by the way. He was not particularly satisfied after watching it, because its combat effectiveness was indeed a bit behind that of other old troops, but at the same time, he could not be particularly harsh on them, because they formed Back then, the foundation was poor, and there were few veterans. It is indeed not easy to practice like this.In the next step, it is best to pull these troops out to practice and practice, that is the best way to quickly improve their combat effectiveness.

Liu Jianguo calculated that Ma Wenqiang from Ningbo in the south had already sent a letter requesting to jointly mobilize troops and horses to land in the southern Anhui area at an opportunity to cooperate with the Jiangxi Shun army to fight and reduce the pressure on the Shun army. Migration pools depleted to the brim.After all, at least so far, the greatest significance of the existence of San Francisco in the Far East is still to provide a large source of immigrants for the mainland of the New World.Although there seems to be no rigid requirement on how many people should be relocated in a year, if the number is really too small, it will definitely not work, and if it is not done, it will be held accountable by the superiors.

Of course, the East Coasters didn't just have a set of plans.In fact, the plan of "robbing Guangzhou City and immigrating 50 people" has always been continuously perfected (the time has not come yet), and landing in Jiangbei is also one of the options, because it can well attract northern Anhui, The eastward transfer of the Qing army in Henan relieved the pressure on the Shun army on the frontal battlefield in Hubei and indirectly supported the Sichuan battlefield.Each of these plans looks pretty good, but which one to choose, we will have to wait and see, but we must move around, otherwise there will be no population.

After staying in Taocun for a few days, Liu Jianguo and his party rode non-stop to Jiaozhou Port, the end of the Jiaoyan Railway, and inspected the newly expanded Jiaozhou Ship Repair Plant.A large number of ships are congested here for the winter, while doing some repairs and maintenance. The servants Xie Zhen, Dong Dalang, and Niu Gui have just arrived here a few days ago, and they are settling in the temporary barracks near the pier.

After a while, these people will board a ship with the Seventh Mixed Battalion and head south to Ningbo Fuding Harbor, where they will first undergo adaptive training.Wait until the end of this immigration transportation season in late April and a large number of ships are emptied, and then together with a servant military division in Ningbo in the south, under the leadership of the [-]th Mixed Battalion, they will break into the Yangtze River Basin in a mighty boat and launch a campaign to support Shunguo. A series of battles—of course, for the people on the east bank, supporting the Shun army may still be secondary. Their main job is obviously to collect and transport away the people of the Qing Dynasty.

"The Jiaozhou Fortress is really impenetrable now. The city is solid and there are many forts. In the future, the Third Fleet can really consider canceling the establishment of the Okhotsk Sea Squadron and changing to a Yellow Sea Squadron. All types of ships set off from here and head south. It can control the prosperous land of Wuyue, and it can break into the heart of Beijing and Tianjin if you go north. Duandi is the first-class good place." Standing on the fortress of Jiaozhou Port where the sea wind is blustery, Liu Jianguo was a little high-spirited, and he only heard him say: "How many years have passed? After the opening of the Jiaoyan Railway, the Port of Jiaozhou will be even more powerful. If the British, Dutch, Portuguese and even French businessmen are also attracted to trade, the port will become more decent. Of course, these are not in a hurry, and slowly Just come, now all the work in Denglai is progressing steadily, I feel very comfortable watching it. No hurry, no hurry!"

(End of this chapter)