The town of Laga is about 200 kilometers away from Tiecheng Mountain.

The presence of a steel mill in the town of Lag was an unexpected event for Hu Zhen, and before he set out on his return from Europe, Hu Zhen's plans for Borneo had never taken into account the existence of a steel mill deep in the heart of Borneo.

In fact, there is no record in the history books that a steel mill was ever built in the Republic of Lanfang.

Even in the almost omnipresent information on nuclear submarines, there is no mention of the existence of a steel mill in central Borneo in the late 19th century.

Hu Zhen learned from the mouth of the Chinese people that this was a huge amount of money to buy a steel factory from Germany in Europe before the Lanfang Republic was wiped out by the Dutch.

However, before the steel plant could be put into production, the Republic of Lanfang came under the control of the Dutch colonial army. If it weren't for Hu Zhen's crossing, the Lag Iron and Steel Plant would have been annihilated in the vast history books.

Since entering the hinterland of Borneo in the north, the Huaxia army has met many Chinese people who live and work in Lag Town along the way, and among the Chinese people rescued in Tiecheng Mountain, there are six or seven hundred Chinese who have lived in Lag Town, and nearly 200 of them are employees of the iron and steel plant. Hu Zhen immediately ordered all the Chinese who had lived in Lag Town to be brought and sent to Lag Town.

In order to firmly control the dangerous place of Tiecheng Mountain, Hu Zhen ordered that three detachments be temporarily stationed in Tiecheng Mountain, recruit people from among the rescued Chinese people, and train a Tiecheng Mountain garrison team.

The jungle mountain road is difficult to walk, and the 200-kilometer road, the team used the fastest speed, and it took three days to walk. In the evening of the third day, the Huaxia army arrived at the town of Lag.

Perhaps the natives did not understand industry, and there were only two or three hundred aboriginal soldiers in the town of Lage, and they were surrounded on all sides by the Huaxia army with nearly ten times the strength of the troops, and they were annihilated in one charge.

After eliminating the indigenous soldiers of Lag Town, Hu Zhen ordered the liberation of more than 3,000 Chinese people in this area, regardless of the fatigue of the march. And before the sky was completely dark, let people who were familiar with this place take them to see the Lag Iron and Steel Works, and the four or five hundred Chinese technicians and workers brought back from Europe also went to inspect it.

"This is the Lager Steelworks?" In the distance, he saw a few tall smoke windows, a blast furnace standing in the sunset, a train track around the factory, and a vast jungle on all sides, which made Hu Zhen always feel unreal.

An employee who had worked at the steel plant replied: "Yes, commander-in-chief, this is the Laga Steel Plant!" ”

"I hope I don't spoil the natives!" Hu Zhen prayed, turned back to the group of technicians and workers behind him and said: "Hurry up, check whether the Lag Steel Plant can still be used, if it can be used, quickly resume production, this will be the foundation for us to become stronger!" ”

"Yes, Mr. Hu, let's act now!" The leader of the technicians is named Wang Kaitian, who is in his fifties, originally a Chinese laborer who went to the United States to build a railroad, and became a technician through study after a lot of hardships, and later drifted to Europe to work at the Thyssen Steel Plant in Germany to learn steel manufacturing. More than a year ago, he was met by Hu Zhen and funded him to enter the technical management department of Thyssen Iron and Steel Plant, mastered a set of mature steel smelting technology, and now has become the leader of the industrial technology team recruited by Hu Zhen.

Hu Zhen looked at Wang Kaitian, who had gray hair, and said, "Wang Gong, it's too late today, let's take a look first." Everyone is tired of walking these days, so let's carry out specific survey and evaluation work tomorrow! Everyone should pay attention to the combination of work and rest! ”

"Thank you Mr. Hu for your concern, we will pay attention!"

Wang Kaitian agreed, but in fact, he carried a lantern and took the technicians and workers to work overnight that night.

Hu Zhen also had to arrange the defense of Lag Town, but after looking around the steel plant, he went back to arrange the defense of the troops.

The natives who control this place are the same as the natives who control Iron City Mountain, and they are the same as the Jacques tribe. But the Jacques tribe was not at all interested in the steelworks, which had only a few smoke windows and a smelting blast furnace, and it was only in view of the fact that the town of Rag was a major transportation artery that two or three hundred old and weak men were sent to guard it.

After intense interrogation, Su Wenzhen gathered information showing that although the Yacques tribe did not garrison heavy troops in Lag Town, they had tens of thousands of troops in the surrounding copper and gold mines, guarding 20,000 or 30,000 slave laborers digging ore day and night. Another hundred kilometers away, there were nearly 20,000 strong Jacques laborers, and these natives were not divided between soldiers and civilians, which meant that in two or three days the Jacques had 20,000 or 30,000 troops to mobilize to besiege the town of Lag.

Hu Zhen pondered for a moment and ordered: "Immediately notify the convening of an emergency military meeting!" ”

Several senior executives soon arrived at the meeting.

After Hu Zhen first asked Su Wenzhen to introduce the situation of the Yake tribe, he pointed to the deployment of indigenous troops in various places on the map and asked everyone: "What do you think about the current situation, and express your opinions!" ”

Liang Kunri was still the first to stand up and speak: "We have fought with the Jacques tribe in Tiecheng Mountain, and their combat effectiveness can be regarded as knowing one or two, with the combat effectiveness of our Huaxia Army, we can at least block ten with one, and we have enough strength to sweep away the indigenous forces everywhere!" ”

"However, if we divide our forces to sweep the natives everywhere, it will be protracted, and we don't know when it will end! And then there's the question, if there are natives who take the opportunity to harass the town of Rag when we disperse our forces, how do we respond? ”

Chen Qishan was the first Chinese he knew after Hu Zhen landed in Borneo, and he has been diligent and conscientious since he became the commander of the four detachments, and he has not made any outstanding achievements, but this military meeting got to the point as soon as he opened his mouth.

Su Wenzhen nodded in agreement with Chen Qishan's words: "Instead of bothering to find the bad luck of the natives, it is better to wait for the natives to come and die, and we will kill in Lag Town!" ”

Liang Kunri will not give up his opinion easily: "Don't we have a wireless telegraphy? With this sharp weapon, as long as the planning is obtained and the troops are deployed at the appropriate distance, the situation of separate attacks can be completely realized, and those natives don't know how to die! ”

"I think it's a passive way to stay here, and if you are passive, you have to be beaten. We should seize the initiative and go to find the main force of the natives! Cui Jinfeng also joined the controversy, and he supported Liang Kunri.

"Let's not forget, what is the strategic purpose of this northward expansion into the heart of Borneo? We just want to control here, if something goes wrong in the town of Laga and the Iron City Mountain, how will the 200,000 Chinese people in the hinterland of Borneo think of us? How do we call on the Chinese people of Borneo as a whole? ”

"To achieve the strategic goal of saving the trapped Chinese people and uniting all the Chinese people, the only thing we can do is to take the initiative to annihilate the main force of the indigenous people with the main force, how can we do it by staying here motionless!"

The two sides insisted on their own opinions, made no concessions, and argued endlessly.