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A few days ago, the torrential rain that lasted for several days even made the waves of the river rise a little, along with the reeds on the riverside were also flooded in the river, and for the land of Hubei that was dry for more than a month, this rainstorm was like a rainstorm, at this time most of the rice in the fields in Hubei had been harvested, and the wheat or sweet potatoes had just been planted in the ground, which was the time when the rain was needed. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

It's a great year!

For the people of Hubei who have gone through almost half a year of war and chaos, this year is really good, although it is a war and chaos, but in addition to the provincial capital, there are few places that really suffer from military disasters, seeing that the year is so good, some people attribute all this to the "Mandate of Heaven to move south", of course, this "south" moved not Jiangning, but Wuchang.

Of course, this is just the people in the village and town who say this, they naturally do not think that the Cantonese bandits who burned the Confucian temple and destroyed the poetry book "obeyed the mandate of heaven", in their opinion, the "Han army governor" who can make the feudal officials like the governor of Huguang submit to the "Han army" is naturally a person who "obeys the mandate of heaven", and sometimes, the mandate of heaven is always so simple, it is just the words of the reader. As for the "mandate of heaven" in the mouth of readers, it is often related to its benefits.

However, for ordinary people, it seems that this destiny has little to do with them, even if the destiny "brings a good year", it also needs the people to work hard themselves to end up in a good situation, otherwise it is a good year to starve to death lazy people. Despite the extreme heat, people went to the edge of the fields to dig ditches and drain water under the scorching sun to drain the water accumulated in the fields, while many enthusiastic children used broken nets to fish in the canals, or played in the puddles by the river, all in a carefree manner.

"Look, look, it's overship!"

Suddenly, a child playing in the water in a puddle by the river pointed to the big boat in the river and shouted with joy.

For these children, it is indeed very strange to see the "steamer" that is different from the small cargo ship they usually see, not to say that it is a novelty they think, even those who think they have seen the world, will also feel rare, after all, this steamer is indeed rare on this river, in fact, even in Shanghai, the steamer is rare, this steamer is a steamer bought back from Hong Kong by the newly established "steamboat company" in Wuchang.

Although the steamboat company only bought back six steamships, which are only rare in the eyes of the people, the people who know inside know very well that one day the wooden boats such as sampans on the river will be eliminated sooner or later, and they will all be replaced by the steamers that travel hundreds of miles a day.

While the children were noisy and excited to see the steamer, the old farmer on the riverbank only glanced at it, and then silently smoked the dry smoke, as if there was nothing new about the steamer, and indeed, for the old farmer who had lived by the river for most of his life, although they had never seen any steamer, but there seemed to be nothing in this world that could attract them except the work in the fields.

When the old man in the shade of the shore glanced at the steamer in the river, on the steamer in the river, there was a blonde foreigner in a white shirt, but he was curious to look at the beautiful scenery by the river.

On the embankment on both sides of the Yangtze River, I don't know how many years it was built, there are rows of ancient willow trees, and those willows are all two or three people hugging each other, and under the huge shade of the trees, you can vaguely see someone enjoying the coolness, and the old farmer is leaning on his body with his hands, holding a piece of rope in his hand, walking slowly on the dam, the rope is dragging a skinny old cow, and there is a little doll sitting on the cow's spine. And not far away, over the riverside town, there were already clouds of midday cooking smoke.

This scene unfolded in front of Fresen's eyes like an oil painting, and he couldn't help but be fascinated by the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River, which is full of oriental colors.

"The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, and the waves are sweeping away the heroes. Success or failure turns empty, and the green mountains are still red in the sunset several times......"

At the time of the words, a young man in his twenties. He had a rather handsome face, and his smile seemed to be equally sincere, but there was a little mischievous between his eyebrows, and although his eyes were pleasant and frank, they were a little too dignified and aggressive. However, unlike the Qing people, he has short hair and wears Western-style clothes, which looks very fitting.

If you were in the Shanghai Concession, someone would have recognized this short-haired young man as Xi Zhimo, who had been in England for a year and a half, and now he was fully integrated here, just as if he had cut off his braids and put on a suit, in fact, his previous braids were just fake braids, and he had cut them off when he was in England. Now it's just a matter of wearing short hair and a suit.

"Mr. Fresen, now, the place we have passed is Chibi, and this Linjiang Immortal? Although the rolling Yangtze River is not made for the Three Kingdoms, Mao Zonggang and his son put it at the front of the volume when they commented on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"! ”

Walking to Fresen's side, Xi Zhimo's actions seemed very gentle, but at this time, the words in his mouth were changed to English, and even at Fresen's request, he translated Yang Shen's "Linjiang Immortal" into English, although it was not necessarily translated, but it also made Fresen feel the meaning of the word, and the two stood at the bow of the boat and said, all with great interest, only to listen to Xi Zhimo say to Fresen beside him in English:

"The Yangtze River, since ancient times, is the boundary between the north and south of China, the so-called North Ma Nanchuan, is to the Yangtze River as the boundary, throughout the ages, I don't know how many literati in the poetry of this river water......"

The two of them stood on the bow of the boat and enjoyed the scenery of the Yangtze River, and at this time, the river scenery came into the eyes of the two of them; Looking at the dam on the riverside, the hundred-year-old giant willow is endless and green. The ancient river flows quietly, there are no waves, there is no hustle and bustle, as if in a paradise, it can't help but make people's hearts soak in this quiet beauty, stand on the bow of the boat and look down, look at the flowing water under the boat, only make people produce the feeling that the river flows to the distance, I don't know where is the end, and the reflection in the water is like a picture.

The sight of the sight made Fresen raise his arms in excitement and shout, and he felt that perhaps at this moment, he had touched the pulse of this ancient country. The cheers of the foreigners made Xi Zhimo's face even more proud, and he asked with a smile:

"Mr. Fresen, it's still our China!"

Xi Zhimo's pride fell on Fresen's eyes at all, and he nodded and said.

"Although the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River is beautiful, but it has declined like China, if it were in Europe, I don't know how many steam ships will sail in the river, and even the wharf by the river has been dredged and deepened many times, so that larger steam ships can dock, and you see......"

Fresen held on to the railing with one hand, but pointed to the lone hard sail of a dilapidated wooden boat on the river.

"This sail, this ship, are all symbols of China's decline!"

Fresen's answer first stunned Xi Zhimo, but he said with a smile on his face.

"This is only temporary, our country's articles are far superior to the West, and the science of the West is far superior to our country, so I have the Metropolitan Governor's move to promote foreign affairs at this time, and I think that in a few years, my country will not be inferior to the West......"

Even if he has the experience of studying in the West, Xi Zhimo does not feel that Chinese culture is far behind the West, in his opinion, Chinese culture has its own excellence, of course, the same is true of the West, and now China should learn the strengths of the West with the courage of the sea and rivers as before the Ming Dynasty.

After seizing Changsha and taking control of Hunan, the Metropolitan Governor's Office once again restructured and set up the "Ministry of Industry," which was in charge of the mines, arsenals, iron factories, and even salt factories in Hubei and Hunan. In order to further promote the Western-style factories, the Governor hired Western geologists and mining engineers to explore the metal mineral resources in Hubei and Hunan.

Now, as the head of the Ministry of Industry, the reason why he left Wuchang is to accompany the chief geologist and mining engineer of the Ministry of Industry to the Daye area to investigate iron ore and other mineral resources. The Metropolitan Governor was full of hope for Daye, and even the Metropolitan Governor had already chosen it as the location of the future ironworks.

And they went to Daye this time in order to complete the task assigned by the Metropolitan Governor -- the coal and iron resources in the area of Daye can be determined, if the coal and iron resources are abundant, then the Governor's Office will set up a factory in Daye Land, where the confidence of the Metropolitan Governor comes from, Xi Zhimo naturally knows -- from ancient books and local chronicles, in fact, those Western miners in the Mining Section of the Ministry of Industry often need the members of the Mining Section to find some clues from the local chronicles to explore mineral resources.

"How many years?"

Fresen looked at Xi Zhimo, his eyes looked quite strange, and he said after a while.

"Do you really believe that China will only need a few years to achieve this?"

"Of course ......"

Xi Zhimo nodded and said with a smile.

This is for others, but I believe that as long as we Han people can regain the spirit of the ancient "sea and all rivers", and not be as conservative as now, how can we not catch up with the West? ”

When mentioning the old and conservative, the corners of Xi Zhimo's lips were slightly raised, and there was always a little helplessness on his face, for no other reason, as the capital of the Ministry of Industry, he was very likely to be appointed as the head of the Ministry of Industry, but a group of Hunan scholars who had just arrived in Wuchang said that he was "a scholar of the Classics" - dressed in Western clothes, and the accused Xi Zhimo was secretly worried about the brains of that group, they didn't point at the bald man and scold the monk!

Most of them are also wearing Western-style military uniforms! And the rebels also relied on Western firearms! But even so, in the end, he put aside his position as the principal, no, even leaving Wuchang this time was to distract himself. As for Wuchang's troubles, well, let's leave it to the Metropolitan Governor to worry about! (To be continued.) )