In April, the sky in the Oriental Port is high and the clouds are light. The reservoir in the north of the city, which is only about 100 meters away from the city wall, is rippling with blue waves, and on the west side of the reservoir, there are large fields of golden beans. Except for a small number of local farmers, most of the 6,000 acres of farmland directly under the Ministry of Agriculture are cultivated by dispatch workers from South Africa.

"These dispatch workers from South Africa are hard-working and have a very good attitude, at least much better than the Charruas or Guarani." Peng Zhicheng, a member of the Central Executive Committee, chief of the General Staff of the National Armed Forces, and minister of the Army, who had not appeared in front of anyone for a long time, was walking on a ridge in the countryside wearing a black tweed coat and an army cap, and he was accompanied by Long Xu, the new commander of the 103rd Company of the Army.

Peng Zhicheng is in his early forties this year, and it is said that he will step down from his posts as chief of the general staff of the military department and member of the Central Executive Committee in two or three years, but Long Xu does not dare to underestimate this senior figure in the army who has single-handedly built the army and held the military power of the whole country for 10 years. He followed Peng Zhicheng half a step behind without a trace, and immediately said to Peng Zhicheng's exclamation: "What Mr. Peng said is that the quality of these South Africans is really good. Originally, when the farmland was in our hands, the yield of soybeans per mu was only fifty or sixty catties, but now in their hands, the yield per mu has risen instead of falling, and last year it created a record high of 68.5 catties. Although there are factors in fertilization and the selection of good seeds, the diligence of these laborers has also been unanimously praised by colleagues in the Ministry of Agriculture. ”

"So, that's where it all comes from." Peng Zhicheng said inexplicably, and then stood on the edge of the beautiful reservoir. Look at the water with slightly wavy waves. "The country's thirst for slaves is getting deeper and deeper, the thirst for all kinds of resources is getting deeper and deeper, and the thirst for the dumping market for industrial products is getting deeper and deeper. It's like being an addict. The addiction is getting bigger and bigger, and it is becoming more and more difficult to extricate himself, but there is no money in his pocket to buy things to relieve the addiction. And it just so happens that this addict is still quite powerful, so there is only one way to rob it by violence. Nowadays, our country is like this, conquering the uncivilized tribes by force, plundering slaves, robbing raw materials, nourishing domestic industrial development, and then dumping the products produced into all the markets that can be dumped in every possible way, and the huge profits obtained are either reinvested in domestic industrial construction or purchased the means of production needed for industrial development. And that includes the population, and so on. ”

Long Xu didn't speak. This truth is clear not only to him, but to all the traversers. If in previous years everyone was still struggling for survival, then since the end of the war with the British East India Company in the past few years, it is clear that the country has embarked on a parallel path of industrial development and colonial expansion. These two paths are now mutually reinforcing, and given the country's scarce natural resources and relatively small consumer market, the East Coast Republic of China, which has a clear surplus of production capacity, is bound to find raw material sources and commodity dumping markets for its somewhat large industrial capacity compared to Europe.

This is the impulse of the entire industrial system, the embodiment of the will of the whole country, and it is not subject to the will of the individual. When the search for raw materials and the dumping market for goods are blocked, the whole system rebounds strongly. Even resorting to force. Moreover, with strong external pressure in previous years. Militaristic ideology prevailed in the country, and the status of the military was very high, and a large number of grassroots power was grabbed. In particular, the propaganda system, which had been infiltrated by a large number of military forces, vigorously advocated the superiority of the cultural system on the east coast, the spirit of "loyalty, bravery, and sacrifice" of the military personnel in dedicating themselves to the country, and the richness of the barbarian land and the huge profits to be obtained by waging a war of aggression. If it weren't for the fact that there was still a little check and balance on the civilian bureaucracy, perhaps the whole country would have completely embarked on the militarist line of expanding armaments and warfare and feeding war with war.

"Fortunately, the earth is still very vast, and there are many blank colonies, so we don't have to compete for 'land under the sun' with those old European countries like Germany and Japan did back then." Peng Zhicheng suddenly smiled again, turned around and patted Long Xu's shoulder who was following him, and said: "In the future, if the country wants to develop, it will break the bottleneck to the ground, expand the living space, and launch a war against the outside world." But what I want to say to you today is that we are not afraid to wage war, but we must not be reckless. As a high-ranking officer, you must have a clear mind, what is the purpose of waging war? What can we gain? What are the possible consequences of war? We must think about all this clearly, and we must not be like those old Japanese soldiers who are full of horse manure and only know how to start a war and start a war again! ”

"I see." Long Xu nodded. Although the military department has been trying to transform the country into a war machine, this does not mean that the military department is a bunch of reckless and militaristic madmen. In fact, this is still a dispute over the line of national development, that is, the civilian government hopes that the country will develop moderately and steadily, and in the process, try not to compete with European powers for interests, and strive for a peaceful rise.

However, the staff officers of the military department felt that in the initial stage of the country, in order to unite the people's hearts and mobilize the country's limited resources, it was necessary to seek development through militarism. That is, to monitor and suppress hostile elements and opposition elements at home, to highly integrate the scattered immigrants of various countries, to elevate the status of military personnel, to preach the theory of superiority on the east coast, and then to obtain the resources, land, and population needed for national development by waging wars of aggression. These two lines cannot say who is right and who is wrong, and Long Xu himself is inclined to the latter. After all, he was only a high school student before he crossed over, and he was only 27 years old this year, which is the age when he is full of ambition and wants to show his strength.

"What happened in South Africa this time is typical." Peng Zhicheng turned around, sat on the grass on the bank of the river, watched a large otter float on the river in the distance, and then said: "The extreme thirst for slaves in the country, coupled with the expansion of the personal ambitions of the local principals, the combination of the two factors has the urge to wage war abroad. And it's not the first time they've done this, and the previous sweeps have all been of the same nature. It's just that this time the enemy they encountered was stronger, or at least it seemed to be stronger, and they naturally began to ask for more troops from the mainland, feeling that they were not strong enough. ”

"Although South Africa has a bit of a solitary twist this time, a few of the country's top military and political chiefs have dragged the country into an imminent war as soon as they meet. However, after admonishing Mo Ming a few words, I still agreed to his request, because this war is also a rare opportunity for our army. After several years of peace, the civilian officials are now becoming more and more powerful, and the army also needs a little bit of good combat achievements to brush up on its presence. Peng Zhicheng leaned his body against an oak tree on the bank of the reservoir, and said to Long Xu with a smile: "Don't think about it. At present, there are eight companies in China, and I will say this to every company commander who is stationed abroad. Before you, I also talked to Xu Gang of the 101st Company, my purpose is to keep your minds clear, I want soldiers who can fight well and have strategic vision, not the kind of 'red deer' who only knows how to fight, do you understand? ”

"Humble duty understood." Long Xu stood up and said firmly.

"Okay, don't be so formal." Peng Zhicheng smiled, then took out a pair of fishing rods, and said to Long Xu while loading the bait: "The recruiting place of the 103rd Company is Coal River Township, they are all born in coal mines, they are tenacious and indomitable, I hope you can play your own style this time." Okay, go back, and come back when you're done winning the battle with me, an old man, for fishing. Now, it's time to get back to your job. ”

Long Xu saluted and walked away quickly.

At this time, on the dock of Zhenhai Port, some soldiers of the 103rd Company of the Army who had reported and assembled in advance were already queuing up to receive their supplies: rifles, sabers, ammunition, khaki cloth uniforms, canvas armed belts, cowhide ammunition bags, cowhide military boots, large caps, cowhide water bladders, wooden lunch boxes, simple hemostatic bags, dry food bags, canned food and even toilet paper.

This surge in South Africa is also a good opportunity to assess the country's mobilization, organization, projection and industrial capacity. As soon as it was established, the Planning and Production Management Committee took on the role of mobilizing some units involved in the production, transportation, and storage of military materials in China, so that they could enter a state of war-ready production. Later, it was found that the results were not bad, and these enterprises produced a large amount of materials needed for the front line in just a few days with quality and quantity, and then, under the overall coordination of the committee, the inland river transportation company also delivered the materials to the war readiness material depot on the wharf of Zhenhai Port on time. The managers of the war readiness material depot also registered the materials in different categories as soon as possible, and then distributed them to the soldiers one by one in accordance with the regulations. The whole process was busy but not chaotic, and the dozen or so units involved carried out a perfect operation, which showed the relatively superb overall planning, organization, and coordination ability of the people on the east coast today, and accumulated valuable experience for carrying out larger-scale national mobilization in the future.

At the same time, the State Intelligence Administration also took the opportunity to conduct a test of domestic public opinion and public sentiment, and the test results showed that under the brainwashing of the propaganda team and Pravda, the public opinion was very vocal about "forgering and punishing the mobs" and was full of confidence in winning the war. This is another valuable experience for the propaganda system, that is, how to guide domestic public opinion during the war stage to better provide public support for foreign aggression and expansion.

Once the war machine of the industrialized countries is launched, it will be thunderous. (To be continued......)