In mid-March, the freighter entered Sichuan with its machinery and was about to arrive at Chaotianmen Wharf.

Zhang Mouzhi stood on the deck of the river ship, looked at the wharf and praised: "This Chongqing is a good place, the waterway transportation is convenient, not much worse than Jiujiang." ”

"So, as long as Liu Xiang can continue to occupy Chongqing and develop the economy well, sooner or later he will be able to unify Sichuan," Zhou Hexuan said, pointing to the Chaotianmen wharf, "Sichuan's guns and ammunition must be purchased through the Yangtze River waterway, otherwise they can only be purchased from the southwest." From this point of view, Liu Xiang's military logistics supply is much more convenient than that of his opponent. ”

"Hey, what's that?" Zhang Mouzhi pointed to the small steamer on the river in the distance and asked.

Zhou Hexuan hurriedly looked over, and saw that those river ships were strangely shaped, with iron plates on both sides of the hull, and a cannon barrel welded on each side. He was uncertain: "This is an armed steamer?" ”

The captain of the freighter, who was responsible for transporting the machines, obviously knew much better than them. When he saw the small river boats equipped with cannons, the captain immediately shouted in horror: "Be careful, be careful, be careful not to overturn Commander Liu's warship!" It's going to lose money. ”

Zhou Hexuan sweated wildly when he heard this, and he suddenly didn't know what to say.

The Mongolian navy of later generations was famous, a landlocked country that did not rely on the sea, and it was stunned to build a navy with three boats and seven people.

Liu Xiang's navy was also famous, refitting ordinary small river ships, installing iron plates as armor, and two small steel cannons as naval guns, and often training cruising in the Yangtze River.

This can make the fishermen along the river worried, not for fear of being hit and sunk by a warship, but for fear that they will accidentally overturn the warship by driving a fishing boat. At that time, there was a folk song in Chongqing that sang like this: Sue the small fishing boats along the river, and the warships will lose money if they overturn. It took 55,000 to buy a ship and 33,000 to buy a gun.

Liu Xiang's warship not only has a small tonnage and small horsepower, but it is more fun to fire guns. Every time a cannon was fired, the hull would fall back a lot due to recoil. However, the Sichuan army's technology for renovating warships is not bad, and the two small steel cannons are welded to a standard standard, so that the warships will not spin on the river as soon as the guns are fired.

Zhou Hexuan hurriedly took out his camera and took wild pictures of several Sichuan "warships" on the river, and these photos will be precious after decades.

After everyone went ashore, they immediately contacted the porter at the dock to transfer the machine, and the next situation made Zhang Mouzhi quite happy.

"It seems that Liu Xiang still understands civil affairs, and we came along the way and were charged a lot of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes. On the contrary, when you arrive in Chongqing, you only need to pay a tariff on Chaotianmen Wharf. Zhang Mouzhi's first impression of Liu Xiang was very good.

The locals who accompanied the hired transfer machine said: "This is thanks to Director Liu. ”

"Who is Director Liu?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

The local said: "Liu Hangchen, director of the Finance Department of the Sichuan Aftermath Supervision Office, is a top student of Peking University, and now he specializes in helping Commander Liu take care of finances. As soon as Director Liu took office, more than 30 tax collection agencies were abolished, and our days of moving were much better. ”

Zhang Mouzhi said: "This is rare, generally those who help warlords to engage in finance, they all try to increase taxes, Liu Hangchen actually wantonly abolished the tax collection organs?" ”

"That's not it, now it is rumored that Director Liu is the reincarnation of the God of Wealth," the local said with great interest, "I heard that Director Liu took office for a month, and let the superintendent office that has been subsidizing money have a balance of more than 1 million taxes, and a balance of more than 2 million in the second month." ”

"It's kind of interesting." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

The local said, "It's not just a little interesting, Director Liu has a lot of stories." In the past, those who were soldiers looked for loans from merchants, but they were all borrowed but not repaid, and everyone should only be ruined to avoid disasters. After Director Liu took office, he also hurriedly borrowed money everywhere, but people were very creditworthy. After the loan expired, no merchant dared to ask for the account, but Director Liu personally led someone to repay the money, and there was a lot of interest! ”

Zhou Hexuan suddenly understood why Liu Xiang in history was able to gain a firm foothold among the many warlords of the Sichuan army, and finally unified Sichuan in name.

It is very important to have an expert who knows how to manage money and know how to win the hearts of the people!

……

Chongqing is obviously different from other places, and there are hardly any rickshaws to be seen here.

Mountain city, pull a rickshaw and don't be tired to death!

The usual means of transportation is a sliding pole, two long sturdy bamboo poles tied to a stretcher, and a bamboo deck chair is erected in the middle. Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Mouzhi sat on the sliding pole, and the sedan chair man carried the sliding rod to climb the slope, feeling quite comfortable and shaky.

Not to mention compared with Tianjin and Shanghai, even compared with Jiujiang, Chongqing at this time seems to be very backward.

There are few modern buildings to be seen, and there are traditional wooden buildings or bamboo baskets everywhere. Liu Xiang has only been operating here for a year or two, and Chongqing has not yet developed, and there may be more significant changes in a few years.

The two took their entourage all the way from Chaotianmen to Caiyuanba, and after setting up the machine, they prepared to find a hotel nearby to rest.

At this moment, a group of people approached him, and pedestrians on the street avoided it.

The two sliding rod pickers who were carrying Zhou Hexuan also hurriedly avoided and almost fell Zhou Hexuan down.

A Sichuan horse dragging a cart was frightened and knocked over the hawker's stall on the street, and the hawker immediately argued with the coachman. One lion opened his mouth to demand compensation, and the other was only willing to pay for the damaged goods, and the quarrel was inexorable.

It was a big fat man who caused the riot, and he also sat on the sliding pole and said impatiently: "What a fuss, a little big thing, it's just a blue face." That's a lot of money, I'll pay for it! ”

The peddler immediately stepped forward with a smile and said, "Ha Gong, a little small business is not worth a few dollars, two oceans are enough." ”

"Give him two dollars," the fat man waved to his entourage, "hurry up, don't delay me watching Sichuan opera." ”

Zhou Hexuan heard the hawker call the fat man "Ha Gong", and immediately understood a little, and he asked out loud: "But Commander Fan?" ”

At first hearing the standard Chinese, the big fat man was a little stunned, looked at Zhou Hexuan suspiciously, and asked, "Which one are you?" How do you recognize me? ”

"Contemptible Zhou Hexuan." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

The big fat man muttered to his subordinates: "Mo is not a central official who came to Chongqing on business, but he speaks official words clearly." ”

He really had someone who understood, and immediately replied: "Ha Gong, this gentleman is amazing, he is a world-famous university scholar. Commander-in-Chief Chiang had to read his books, and he also printed his books and sent them to the officials to read! ”

"That's amazing!" The big fat man was taken aback and said to himself, "Well, I can't see it." How did he recognize me? ”

The subordinate patted his ass and said: "It means that Ha Gong has become famous, and even university scholars know you!" ”

"Hehe, you have to get it, you have to get it," the big fat man hurriedly got off the slide rod and shouted happily, "Mr. Zhou, let's go to the theater together." I, Fan Harr, am the east, and I promise to let you play well in Chongqing! ”