In February of the first year of Xuantong, the Qing government ordered all provinces to formally set up advisory bureaus to prepare for the establishment of local autonomy in all prefectures and counties. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Yesterday the constitutionalists had just called for an early constitution, and today there was a revolutionary party with a bomb to launch an armed uprising. In March, after the Qing government's edict to "prepare for the constitution", this series of actions was intensified.

There was also a lot of discussion in the city of Kunming, and various forces began to appear.

No matter how crowded it was outside, it did not affect the low-key development of Xiao Mubai and his Communist Progressive Party.

On this day, Xiao Mubai came to the official office of Shen Bingkun, the governor of nursing. However, it was because Huasheng Group went to the Huili area to build a steel plant, hoping to get Shen Bingkun's consent.

Hearing the news that Xiao Mubai came to visit, Shen Bingkun was also quite surprised. Speaking carefully, there are not too many contacts between himself and Xiao Mubai. didn't have time to think about it, so he asked his entourage to bring Xiao Mubai in.

"Xiaguan has seen Lord Shen." Xiao Mubai is still as low-key and respectful as ever

"Zicheng, why do you have time to come today?" Shen Bingkun said with a smile. I am still happy to see that Xiao Mubai can come, this young man is not simple, Shen Bingkun, who has been in officialdom for most of his life, has long understood this.

"The lower official came here this time to ask for help from the adults." Xiao Mubai put his posture very low.

"Oh? I don't know what's going on, Zicheng, let's talk about it. Xiao Mubai actually came to beg him to do something, which made Shen Bingkun a little surprised, and he couldn't help frowning.

"Here's the thing, during his tenure in Guangnan, Xia Guan invested in some industries, and in the past two years, he has been doing well and making a surplus. Some time ago, I heard that the Huili area was rich in minerals, so I thought about opening an iron factory and other factories there. I came here this time in the hope that my lord would agree to the matter of going down. ”

Listening to Xiao Mubai's explanation, Shen Bingkun stretched his frowning brows, breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and said with a smile: "How big of a deal should I be?" I actually asked Zicheng to come in person, it turned out to be like this. What is so difficult about this, this officer can answer you now. Unexpectedly, Zicheng's ability to do business is not small, and he really deserves to have stayed abroad. The development of industry is a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people, and the imperial court also encourages the establishment of industry. It's just that I heard Zicheng say that you want to start an iron factory? That's a lot of money. You must know that the Hanyang Iron Works built by the boss of Zhang Zhidong back then cost five million taels of silver? ”

"Thank you for your concern, Xiaguan is just running a small iron factory, which is not as good as Mr. Zhang, so the cost is not very much." Xiao Mubai replied gratefully

"In this way, it will be easy to do, and this official will give you instructions."

After Xiao Mubai returned home, he immediately sent a telegram to Zhao Mingchuan and others in Guangnan.

After receiving Xiao Mubai's telegram, Zhao Mingchuan took the guards and the technicians of his entourage all the way from Guangnan to Huili for a field investigation. Because of the instructions of the governor's yamen, the local officials in Huili Prefecture did not dare to embarrass Zhao Mingchuan and others. Instead, he sent a young scribe named Zhao Xiaosi who was familiar with the local area as a guide.

Perhaps because they are all young people, I feel that Zhao Mingchuan and others are amiable and easy to get along with. Zhao Xiaosi was not afraid of life, and accompanied Zhao Mingchuan to the Yanbian area of Huili with excitement all the way, and kept introducing the people, history, and resources here, as well as the famous gentry and the heads of a few famous ethnic groups in this area. But the more Zhao Mingchuan goes, the more unpleasant he feels in his heart, and there are all the unfavorable conditions for building factories here.

This is a barren land, but also a closed, backward, ignorant land, from here to the provincial capital Kunming only a two-horse parallel dirt road, rain water, muddy and difficult to walk. For hundreds of years, the Han, Yi, Miao and other ethnic groups have been clearly distinguished here, and for hundreds of years, this place has been full of Han Yi vendetta, Miao Yi vendetta, Han and Miao vendetta. There is no country here, only families. The main commodity here is **, and they met more than a dozen horse gangs along the way, and **merchants hired them to buy here along the cottage**.

The low stone houses, the occasional Yi women wearing national costumes carrying baskets, looking at them with cowardice and hatred, the walls of each Yi village are full of figures, obviously guarding them.

Can you build a large steel plant in such a place? Zhao Mingchuan has no bottom in his heart, completely bottomless. Even he was a little skeptical of Xiao Mubai's decision.

"The Huili area is a multi-ethnic region, and since ancient times, the imperial court has set up four major propaganda divisions here to manage these ethnic minorities. There are also various toasts and chiefs in charge of each stockade. Zhao Xiaosi worked very hard to introduce some local historical developments, but Zhao Mingchuan only had the patience to remain polite, and his worries became heavier and heavier.

"In addition to iron ore, there should also be copper mines in this area, and the local Yi people once developed copper mines here, and some small mines remained." Zhao Xiaosi was still foaming at the mouth.

Ignoring Zhao Xiaosi's saliva, Zhao Mingchuan was really speechless about this family surnamed Zhao.

Half a month later, in the mansion of Xiao Mubai in Kunming. In the room, Xiao Mubai and Zhao Mingchuan were discussing enthusiastically.

"Electricity, there is no electricity in the Huili area, and if you want to build a steel plant, you must first build a power plant there, or build a hydropower station. It is simply not realistic to build a steel mill there and the associated matching factories in the short term. Zhao Mingchuan shook his head with a tired face and said, he was tired for more than a month, and hurried to Huili, and rushed back to Kunming after the inspection.

"However, this place is rich in minerals, that's really not to say, according to the analysis of the ore we brought back, we conclude that this area is rich in a variety of minerals, in addition to iron, copper, etc., there are many rare and precious metals."

Listening to the results of the investigation introduced by Zhao Mingchuan, Xiao Mubai nodded, this is a big gap from what he hoped, but it is about the same as he estimated, and it is not easy to do this step in a month. Xiao Mubai's face was full of bitterness, damn, why are these treasures in that kind of poor country? Wouldn't it be nice to find a more convenient place?

After Zhao Mingchuan finished speaking, he looked at Xiao Mubai with a blank look, he also knew that this decision was not good, the difficulties and interests were clear, the difficulties were beyond imagination, but the benefits after success were also beyond imagination.

"To be honest, it's a really difficult idea, I didn't expect it to be so difficult. But now we are facing a situation where we have to build such a steel mill, and the steel mill in Quang Nam is only a small steel mill, and it has developed to a certain bottleneck. So we had to build a large steel base, and we could secretly train our troops there under the guise of building factories. Second, it can solve the lack of steel demand in our team. Xiao Mubai said slowly

"You see, it's okay. 1. Road construction; 2. Establishment of hydropower stations; 3. Mining and building factories. Everything we do now revolves around these three points. With an initial investment of 200 million yuan, the construction of roads, hydropower stations, and factories will be carried out simultaneously to reduce the construction period. Money is not an issue, what we need now is time. We can guarantee the relevant technology and funds. If there are no accidents, about three or four years, the steel plant will be able to produce steel. Xiao Mubai pondered for a while and said

"That's all there is to it. Since you've decided, I'll do my best. However, you have to hand Cao Ren over to me, and he and his engineers are needed to build roads and factories. ”

"Well, this is completely okay, and in addition, notify the Eagle's Beak Rock side, and secretly send a battalion of troops to enter the Huili area with the construction team in the name of the mine protection team."

"Forget it, since it's decided, I won't talk about it. Let's talk about something else. Seeing that Xiao Mubai made a decision, Zhao Mingchuan opened the topic and said: "How about a name for our project?" ”

"Okay! Let's call it Panzhihua. Xiao Mubai didn't think about it, and said casually

"I think it's okay, it's full of climbing branches, and it's very local." Zhao Mingchuan also smiled and agreed, but he was a little strange in his heart, Panzhihua is also called kapok, only locals are called Panzhihua, and he only knew this because he went to that place, how did Xiao Mubai know? Maybe it's what he said earlier, he explained himself.