January 30, 1684, Nanmanchu Dadonggou, sunny.

On the construction site of Dadonggou County, a steam pickaxe is working on the ground that has just been roasted by the fire. The machine, powered by a 7.5 hp steam engine, showed amazing strength to the more than 2,000 groups of workers on the site, and it took only one morning to clear the trench that would have required a lot of strong labor to dig, and the efficiency was truly amazing - of course, it was not expensive, because of the overuse and the hidden stones under the soil, two hoes were scrapped in one morning, and the maintenance workers of the steam pickaxe were heartbroken, all of which were high-quality hoes imported from the country!

Of course, the use of steam machinery in Dadonggou is not limited to this, in fact, Dandong County, which is the best built among the three counties in Liaodong, has just built a steam wood processing plant. The timber processing plant has a central power plant with a total horsepower of 150 horsepower, which was donated by a small, local state-owned enterprise that has just closed down as part of the central government's subsidy to the Far East. Of course, after receiving the Denglai development team, they also spent money to hire one or two skilled workers in the local area, and at the same time purchased a large number of wearing parts as spare parts, which opened the most modern wood processing plant in Denglai.

The gradual introduction of steam machinery indicates the enhancement of the productivity of the Far Eastern Domain, the acceleration of local development, and of course, it also means the further improvement of local industrial strength, after all, these are all old technologies or equipment that have been eliminated locally. The technicians who were hired as heavily as the treasures of the Far Eastern San Francisco were either young people with hairless mouths or disappointed in the local competition, in short, they would not be high-level talents, which can see a lot of problems.

Of course, the Far Eastern Domains were not much dissatisfied with this, because their industrial base was already very backward and there was a shortage of high-quality industrial workers. Don't look at Denglai, Ningbo and other places for decades, the population growth is relatively fast, but because of the long period of military management before, most of the money, materials and manpower in the two places have been used for war preparedness expenditure, resulting in the implementation of people's livelihood - especially the vital education - on the resources are seriously insufficient, although occasionally robbed a lot of handicraftsmen, but most of them were forced to send to the mainland, so the industrial base of Denglai, Ningbo and other places has never been able to develop.

Fortunately, with the improvement of the strategic situation, the military administration period of the Far Eastern feudatories ended in time, a large number of liberated resources began to be gradually invested in the field of people's livelihood construction, the education situation of the counties under the jurisdiction has also been greatly improved, the literacy rate of the people, especially the new generation, has increased, coupled with the accumulation of wealth brought about by population reproduction, which has provided the necessary foundation for industrial upgrading. Local business people or social elites are also quite satisfied with this - they should have given back a little bit after so many years of hard work and tightening their belts to transport people thousands of miles away, otherwise it would be a bit too much.

Therefore, you can see that the local government has strengthened its technical investment in Sakhalin's coal base, metallurgical base, and military production base, approved the Southern Railway Company's request to build a rubber smoke line railway in the Denglai area, and approved the construction of a number of steam light industry workshops in the Ningshao area, which for a time made the industrial level of the Far Eastern San Francisco rapidly improved, and the total horsepower of the steam engine in use was no less than 4,500 horses (not counting steam locomotives), and it was still increasing rapidly.

Even the three relatively remote counties of Liaodong have also shared a little benefit: Dadonggou County has several steam engineering equipment, Dandong County has a medium-sized steam wood processing plant, and Kuandian County has also built a steam flour mill.

Of course, compared with the other two counties, the few steam engineering equipment allocated by Dadonggou County are actually much inferior. However, who made you the county that was established early, the least populated, and the weakest among the three counties in eastern Liaodong? So far, Dadonggou County, with a population of only a few thousand, has only two townships and towns, and there are not many acres of land (but the number of fishing boats going out to sea is the largest among the three counties), and it is relatively weak in every way, so it is not surprising that there is such treatment.

"The foundation of Dadonggou County is weak, I was still very worried about it, but I didn't expect that now the situation has changed and the threat has been lifted, you have to seize this opportunity and do it well!" On a meadow outside Dadonggou County, Major Liao Degong, who had just been promoted to deputy captain of the Denglai Pioneer Team with the approval of the local executive committee (enjoying the treatment of a lieutenant colonel), led a war horse with a divine horse, and said to a young officer who followed him while walking.

Chang Bang, a young officer named Chang Bang, the grandson of Chang Kaisheng, a veteran of the East Coast Army, who had just graduated from the Dingyuan Army Military Academy, was specially awarded the rank of lieutenant because of his excellent grades, and came to the Far East as a soldier to serve as the acting county magistrate of Dadonggou County, presiding over the military affairs and civil affairs of the county.

Changbang's luck is actually quite good. Because not long after he took office in Dadonggou County in the second half of last year (1683), the Denglai pioneer team formally signed a peace agreement with the Qing court, and the two sides established a border, each of them stopped fighting, and opened up mutual trade, and a breath of peace came to the face.

As soon as the peace agreement was signed, the sword of war that originally hung over the heads of thousands of residents in Dadonggou County naturally disappeared invisibly, which made Chang Bang greatly relieved: if the Qing army attacked, he would really not be able to handle it, and he would definitely have to suffer some losses, after all, that Chongnian in Phoenix City also had some ability, which had been proven in the years of confrontation between the East Bank and the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Although Chang Bang is a soldier, this does not mean that he is not a civil servant, and even if he really doesn't understand, he can let his subordinates do it. What's more, since the Heishui Transportation Institute was properly cleaned up, many graduates began to be distributed to the outside world, and the employment of Dadonggou was assigned to a few people, plus some demobilized military cadres who were familiar with local affairs, and the affairs of Dadonggou County were slowly running.

After hearing Liao Degong's instructions, Chang Bang subconsciously stood up straight, put his feet together, and replied immediately: "Deputy Commander Liao is right, Captain Liu finally decided to sign a peace agreement with the Qing State, and other aspects are left aside for the time being, which is indeed to give Dadonggou County a chance to breathe." We will certainly not disappoint the expectations of our superiors, seize the favorable opportunity, and build Dadonggou County into our grain, melon, fruit, and fishery base in eastern Liaoning, so as to provide a solid material foundation for the development of the large-scale counteroffensive strategy formulated by the Security Command in the future! ”

"Hehe, don't be so restrained, relax, relax!" Liao Degong pressed down with his left hand, and said with a smile: "I'm relieved if you think so." Although we have now signed a peace agreement with the Qing State, and Shandong and Liaodong have temporarily entered a period of peace, it is important to know that this is not the norm. If necessary, I think neither we nor the Manchu court would mind tearing up this peace agreement immediately and rekindling the flames of war. At that time, the two countries exchanged troops again, and the army gathered, and if Dadonggou County did not make corresponding preparations, I am afraid that it would suffer a big loss. Therefore, you must not slacken, and you must be nervous in every work and try to move forward as much as possible. Today I came to your city wall construction site to take a look, I feel pretty good, you do have a sense of urgency, even the hoe has been scrapped two, yes, yes. ”

Chang Bang's face turned a little red when he heard this, and he hurriedly explained: "Deputy Commander Liao, this is really an accident. There is no way, the county was just built, all kinds of affairs are complicated, the people are already very tired on weekdays, in the warm summer and autumn seasons, they have to do farm work, but also to repair water conservancy and warehouses, and at the same time they have to reclaim the wasteland, take care of livestock or something, even the elderly and children are all on the battlefield to help, and manpower can be said to have been squeezed to the extreme. Therefore, things like building the city wall can only be done in winter, and in order to meet the construction deadline, we can only use all six steam plows, steam pickaxes and other equipment, there is really no way. ”

"Hehe, Xiao Chang, what are you nervous about, I don't blame you." Liao Degong said with a smile: "Of course I know the difficulties of Dadonggou, and I also appreciate your efforts. I have also been in the eastern Liaoning region for some years, and the three counties of Dandong, Kuandian, and Dadonggou are like my children, and I naturally hope that they will all be built well. So, you're doing the right thing, you're doing it right! A little loss of construction machinery, what is it! The technical strength of Sakhalin has improved rapidly in recent years, and in time, they may not be able to produce such hoes, but the quality is worse than that of the local ones, and they can still be used. ”

"And you see, now Captain Chen of the Blackwater Pioneer Team has not yet completed the negotiation with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, on the contrary, he has sent people to sharpen his knives in the North Manchurian region, advance in three ways, and squeeze the strategic space of the Qing court over there step by step." Liao Degong continued: "Although our South Manchurian region has temporarily negotiated peace with the Qing court, we must be prepared to respond and contain the Qing army at any time. That is, in the unlikely event that the Qing court could not endure the 'slow death' in the North Manchurian region, and if a large army had been assembled to attack it, although it was not very likely, we would have to use the ability to strike at it from the flank. And this, obviously, you need the three counties of eastern Liaodong to be able to provide a considerable part of the supply of grain, melons and fruits, forage, draft animals, and even labor. Therefore, no matter how deeply rooted you are, it is not too much to build a great building, and I support it! ”

Liao Degong's words are actually very clear. In fact, the three counties of Liaodong originally existed as the second battlefield against the Qing State - of course, it also had the role of shielding and isolating the Qing State and North Korea - but today, the three counties of Dandong, Kuandian, and Dadonggou have tens of thousands of pioneers, and the city, grain depot, military station, road, wharf and other facilities have also been gradually improved, although the grain output is a little tight, but with the North Koreans on the other side of the Yalu River to transport some of the rice, it can still feed a large number of soldiers and civilians here.

Therefore, the three counties of Liaodong are no longer places that can be abandoned at will by the Denglai pioneer team. These three counties, which are lined up along the Yalu River, have already gained a firm foothold in Liaodong, and can wrestle with the Phoenix Metropolitan Jurisdiction of the Qing court, and in many cases can even gain the upper hand, so many decisions from above will naturally be adjusted. In short, that is, Denglai already had the idea of expanding in the South Manchurian region on this basis, but it was not implemented for the time being due to various factors - to say a bad joke, the Manchu court had reason to thank the Southern Railway Company, it was they and the Denglai pioneer team to build the Jiaoyan line railway, which squeezed out the savings of this feudal town for many years, making them temporarily unable to expand abroad, so that they finally chose to sign a peace agreement with the Qing court to recuperate.

"Now the Jiaoyan Line Railway has been officially completed, and the commercial operation of the whole line is ready to fly. The complete opening of this railway is of great significance to the development of the Tenglai area. The economic development of the counties of Denglai and the two provinces will inevitably accelerate under the stimulus of this railway, and the financial strength of the government of the pioneer team will also be greatly enhanced. And once the government has money, what do you say it will do? Liao Degong asked himself: "Yes, if you have money, you can build places, you can continue to support immigrants, but is there nothing else to do?" The vast land of South Manchuria, with thousands of miles of fertile fields and many resources, won't the people of insight in Denglai see the benefits of seizing this place? Yes, it may be in the local interest at this stage to continue to devote most of the resources to local construction – such as the construction of a second transportation artery, the Pyeongrong Line Railway, but you can't deny that there are many people who would like to see the expansion of the Denglai Pioneer in Liaodong. What's more, in the future, if the local executive committee gives us and the two major development teams of Heishui major guidance on the strategic direction, it will be possible to ensure that the north and south are in line with each other and take the whole of Manchuria, so your three counties in eastern Liaoning are very important, and you must know this by yourself. Make all the preparations in advance, and it will be easier to speak when you talk about your work in the future, do you understand this truth? ”

"Understood, Deputy Commander Liao." Chang Bang nodded and said. He knew very well that the people on the east coast actually had a lot of ambitions for Manchuria, which in addition to the mess with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, also faintly had the intention of containing China in the future, that is, after occupying the entire Manchuria by means of north-south and east-west attacks, and then finding ways to subdue the Mongol departments, pushing the defense line to the line of Shanhaiguan, Yanshan, and the Great Wall, and gaining a strategic advantage over Chinese mainland, so that they could not expand to the north, but could only go west or south—once they went south, With the harsh environment and complex ethnic factors of the Indochina Peninsula, it will inevitably become a blood loss in China for many years in the future—so as the foundation of Liaodong's expansion, the status of the three counties, including Dadonggou County, is still very important. Chang Bang can get the position of acting county magistrate, and he has surpassed many competitors of the same age, which he is quite clear.