Liu Wenhui attached great importance to Zhuang Jihua's trip to the Kang-Yunnan border, and he specially sent a telegram from Chengdu asking Ren Naiqiang, chairman of the Xikang Economic Development Committee, to accompany him to inspect the Huili and Dechang areas.

When Ren Naiqiang received Zhuang Jihua and his party in Xichang, he couldn't help but be surprised and delighted, it was obvious that Zhuang Jihua really came to develop the Huili area, there were a large number of experts in his team, carrying a large number of instruments and equipment, only the mules carrying equipment were made up of hundreds of heads, plus the special forces and escort team led by Song Yunfei himself, the total number reached as many as 400 people.

Ren Naiqiang and his excitement accompanied Zhuang Jihua to the Yanbian Renhe area of Huili to investigate, along the way kept introducing the people, history, resources, and famous gentry and leaders in this area, but Zhuang Jihua went more and more unpleasantly, and there were all the unfavorable conditions for development here.

This is a barren land, but also a closed, backward, ignorant land, from here to the interior there is only a two-horse parallel dirt road, rain, muddy and difficult to walk. For hundreds of years, Han, Yi and Miao have been clearly distinguished here, and for hundreds of years, it has been full of Han and Yi vendettas, Miao Yi vendettas, Han and Miao vendettas, and clan rivalries; There is no country here, only families; The main commodity here was opium, and along the way they met a dozen caravans hired by opium merchants to buy opium along the cottages.

The Yi village on the far hillside is piled up with low stone houses, and the occasional Yi woman wearing national costumes carries a basket on her back, looking at them with a timid and hateful gaze, and the walls of each Yi village are full of human figures, obviously guarding them.

Can a steel city be built on such a piece of land? Zhuang Jihua has no bottom in his heart, no bottom at all.

"The Liangshan area is a multi-ethnic area, and since ancient times, the imperial court has set up four major Xuanfu Divisions here to manage these ethnic minorities, namely the Qiongbu Xuanfu Division, the Shama Xuanfu Division, the Adu Chief Lawsuit, and the Lei Bo Wan Guan Chief. All ethnic minorities from the Dadu River in the north, the Jinsha River in the south, the Wumeng Mountain in the east, and the Yanyuan Yanjing in the west belong to the Lili Tusi family. The ancestor of the Lili family made meritorious service with the Yuan army to conquer the Liangshan area, the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty set up the Luo Luo Xuanwei Division in this place, and named it as the Xuanwu envoy, and then the fifth grandson of the Ming Dynasty was named An Pei as the commander of the Sichuan Xingdu Division, and the Qing Shunzhi reawarded An Taining, a descendant of the An family, as the Hexi Fuyi Division (Tuqian General Position). During the Qianlong period, he also awarded Hedong Fuyi An Fengying as the governor of Hedong. During the Jiaqing period, An Wuling inherited the Hexi Fuyi Division, An Yuzhi inherited the Hedong Governor's Lawsuit, and in the early years of Tongzhi, Tusi An Shaohui was the heir, and the Qiongbu Xuanfu Division Ling Chengen topped the Hexi Fuyi Division and the Hedong Governor's Lawsuit. In the fifteenth year of the Republic of China (1926), it was inherited by Ling Bangzheng. After entering the Republic of China, the Tusi system still plays a role within the Yi people, but the changes are great, the Xuanwei Division has existed in name only, and the following Tuqian households and Tuqian are also called Tusi, and the Tushe Tu has gradually canceled these and the management has become two levels, Tusi and the head, each village has a head, and the head is responsible for the Tusi. Specifically, the Yi people in the Huili area are under the jurisdiction of two Tusi, and the Tusi Lu family and their own family are protected. Ren Naiqiang's mouth splashed and he worked very hard to introduce the history of the Liangshan area, but Zhuang Jihua 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 have developed copper mines here, and there are still some small mine holes left." Ren Naiqiang didn't seem to see Zhuang Jihua's face, and continued to "sell" his knowledge and tempt Zhuang Jihua.

"What is their relationship with the political axe?" Zhuang Jihua finally couldn't help but ask.

"It's not good, the year before last, Xu Ying killed Lu Anyou, the leader of the Lu family, and killed his wife and daughter, and his third uncle is now on duty in Xichang." Ren Naiqiang explained with some embarrassment: "What we are implementing now is still the way of changing shifts in the former Qing Dynasty, that is, each Tusi has to send their male relatives to the county government axe as hostages, and they will be rotated every once in a while. ”

"Why this way?" Political axe hostage-taking? Isn't this a kidnapper? Zhuang Jihua couldn't help but shake his head, it's no wonder that the relationship is better if it goes on like this.

"This is a long story," Ren Naiqiang said: "According to my investigation, from the middle of the Qing Dynasty, here began to implement the reform of the land and return to the stream, the Tusi opposed the change of the land and returned to the stream, and began to rebel, the Qing court suppressed, the Tusi was beaten and surrendered, as soon as the pressure of the court was relaxed, it was reversed, and again and again, some people proposed this method, and the result was not bad, and the Yi rebelled a lot less. ”

Ren Naiqiang looked at Zhuang Jihua's face, he said so much, in fact, he was worried that Zhuang Jihua would not "invest" here, he also knew that the conditions here were very poor, if you want to invest and build a factory here, in addition to national contradictions, there are bandits, these bandits are not the traditional bandits who gather in the mountains and forests, but the poor Yi people in the local deep mountains, these Yi people live in the mountains and forests, the living conditions are very difficult, often go out of the mountains to rob, the Han people and Bai Yi often suffer from it, so without the protection of the army, it is very difficult to develop here.

"Not bad?" Zhuang Jihua shook his head, he absolutely couldn't accept such a good thing, but this obviously unreasonable system did not have such strong resistance even for enlightened people like Ren Naiqiang, which shows that the national contradictions here have been deeply rooted, and it is beyond imagination to change.

"This area is controlled by General Liu Ziqian, how many troops are there?" Now that you understand the dangers here, the first thing to consider is safety.

"The garrison in the Xichang area is the first brigade of the 24th Army, the brigade commander Liu Yuantang, the total strength of four regiments, the commander of the 33rd regiment in the Huili area is Xu Ying, the commander of the 33rd regiment, and there is also a security regiment, about 200 people, the regiment commander is called Mu Shanzhu." Ren Naiqiang paused and then said: "If you want to carry out construction here, you must transfer one person, Deng Xiuting, the commander of Yi affairs, with him, the Yi people in the surrounding counties will never dare to rebel." ”

"Deng Xiuting," Zhuang Jihua had heard of this name, and he had seen it in the briefing on the situation on the Tibetan border, and he had made great contributions in the Sichuan-Tibet War that took place the year before last, and his unit was a strong force of Liu Wenhui to stabilize Xikang: "Where is he now?" ”

"Raising grain in the Mianning Bridge area."

"Can you go to Toast's house?" Zhuang Jihua wanted to figure out whether these Yi people were really not easy to get along with, and Ren Naiqiang's description made him really uneasy, and he wanted to contact him personally.

"It's nothing to go, there are more Bai Yi here, and I get along well with the Han people." Ren Naiqiang said.

Bai Yi is a free man in the Yi people, the black Yi is the slave owner in the Yi people, the Yi people are still black, and the black is precious, so the status of the black Yi is higher than that of the white Yi, but the society is not immutable, under the impact of the Han economic system, the Yi society in the Han Yi mixed area has begun to disintegrate, and the Yi tribes that adhere to the original social structure have moved into the mountains and become poorer, and many Black Yi have become tenants.

"I'm not going to those Bai Yi houses, I'm going to the Tusi house in the mountains." Zhuang Jihua shook his head and said that he knew in his heart that most of Bai Yi had become obedient people, and they would not make trouble, and the real trouble came from the Yi people in the mountains and forests.

Ren Naiqiang smiled bitterly and said, "I'll arrange it." But I expect to meet them soon. ”

In Huili Zhuang Jihua saw the highest commander of the local garrison, the commander of the 33rd Regiment, Xu Ying did not participate in the Erliu War the year before last, he belonged to the troops left behind in Xikang, that is, the second-rate troops in Liu Wenhui's 24th Army, Liu Wenhui was always looked down upon in his heyday, but after the Erliu War, Liu Wenhui's elite troops suffered heavy losses, and his second-rate troops became first-class troops, and they were directly included in the first brigade and became a descendant unit.

Xu Ying didn't know Zhuang Jihua, he only heard that this person was very powerful, and Mr. Liu's defeat was his black hand behind his back, but before he came, Liu Wenhui in Chengdu and Liu Yuantang in Xichang both sent him telegrams, asking him to protect the safety of the development team, and his tone was so harsh that he was a little panicked.

After a routine greeting at the city gate, Zhuang Jihua and his party were sent to the camp that had been prepared a long time ago. Zhuang Jihua still asked about the situation of Han Yi.

"Please rest assured, General Zhuang, I will send someone to make it clear to the Yi people who are leaving, if there is anyone who disturbs the development team, there will be no forgiveness!" Xu Ying immediately assured Zhuang Jihua that his eyes were full of strong confidence. Since he killed Lu Anyou's entire family in public the year before last, the Yi people here were afraid of mentioning his name and did not dare to disobey his orders at all.

"Commander Xu, I want to build a hydropower station here, open mines, build steel plants, build roads and railways" Zhuang Jihua frowned and said: "What I want is not a day or two, but long-term peace and stability." ”

As soon as Zhuang Jihua said this, the local gentry of Huili suddenly became energetic, and the living room began to be active.

"When does General Zhuang plan to start, and how do you need our local assistance?" The county magistrate asked, pinching his beard.

"This time I came to determine how to start, and as for the specific steps, they need to do it," Zhuang Jihua pointed to the expert professor sitting with his finger: "They will determine it, and I am responsible for providing them with a good environment." As for your family, when I have a concrete plan, I will invite you to come and discuss it. ”

On the way here, Zhuang Jihua already understood that he was going to do those things, in the past two years, roads have been built in various parts of Sichuan, Zhuang Jihua has provided funds, and Xikang is the same, but after Liu Wenhui's defeat, he shrank in Xikang, his strength has been greatly weakened, his financial situation is very poor, road traffic construction funds have been misappropriated, and the highway construction is rough and simple, most places can be said to be shoddy and perfunctory, except for Ya'an to Chengdu can barely be connected to cars, other places can not be opened to traffic, so the first thing he has to do now is to build roads.

"Commander Xu, County Magistrate Zhang, the development team will be divided into several teams, and the number of our escort team and people is insufficient, so we can only ask the two of us to help." Zhuang Jihua then made a request to Xu Ying and County Magistrate Zhang.

The two of them naturally agreed, and Zhuang Jihua didn't say anything, but first paid them two thousand oceans for labor services, stating that the wages of each soldier and civilian man were two oceans a day.

After they dispersed, Zhuang Jihua called the experts together for a meeting, at which Ren Naiqiang first introduced the situation of the Yi people here and the contradictions between the Han and Yi, and then Zhuang Jihua said:

"After Mr. Ren's introduction, we are clear about the complex ethnic relations here, when we were in Yucheng, we decided to build a steel plant here because of the rich mineral resources here, but now I have some doubts about whether we should build a factory here, I would like to ask you to discuss."

As soon as Zhuang Jihua's words fell, Chang Longqing, a geological expert, stood up and said: "The situation is not so serious, I have been here for three months, I have also gone to the deep mountains and old forests, and the Yi people have also seen them, I feel that they are very simple, not as unreasonable as the legend, as long as you respect them, they will not violate us." ”

"If you don't build a factory here, if you build a factory in Yucheng, transportation will be a big problem," said Li Shutian, a civil engineering expert. How much does it cost to spend on gas? Can it meet the production needs? ”

Li Shutian's problem hit the nail on the head, it is relatively easy to build in Yucheng, but once it is put into operation, it is difficult to imagine how much capacity is needed to meet the production needs, and how many problems will arise from this.

Gradually, the experts in the room began to talk about it, and gradually they were unanimous in their opinion, even if it was necessary to station a force here to protect the factory, it should be built here.

"Since we're on the same page, let's talk about where to start." Zhuang Jihua finally said.

"It's still traffic, the roads here are too poor to be opened to traffic at all, and a high-grade highway from Yucheng to Huili must be built.

"There is no electricity in the Huili area, so we must build a factory here, or build a hydropower station."

…

"Let me sum up," Zhuang Jihua finally said, "First, build roads; 2. Construction of hydropower stations; three mines; Fourth, build a factory. All our work now revolves around these four, from Yucheng to build a high-grade highway here, it will take at least a year, a year or more later, and then start to build a hydropower station, the hydropower station will take about a year to a year and a half, and then start building a factory after there is electricity, which will take about another two years, if there is no accident, about five to six years later, the steel plant will be able to produce steel," Zhuang Jihua shook his head: "No, we don't have that much time, and I won't give us so much time." ”

The venue suddenly fell silent, from the day the development team began to work, Zhuang Jihua repeatedly emphasized the time, emphasizing that the outbreak of a full-scale war will not exceed five to six years, and now in the past two years, there are still three to four years left, if the planned steel plant will take five to six years to produce steel, then due to the impact of the war, the time may drag on to ten years later, how much role can it play in the war?

"How's the sync going?" Ren Naiqiang got up and said, it was the first time for him to talk to the secrets of the development team, and the shock in his heart was strong, he now understood the ultimate purpose of the development of the southwest, which had made Liu Wenhui guess for a long time: "Some of the roads here can still be used, so the mine can be developed first, and there are hydropower stations, cement is needed to build hydropower stations, generators and transmission equipment are installed, and the highway from Ya'an to Chengdu can still be opened to traffic, and these can be transported to Ya'an first, so the first thing we need to repair is Huili, The highway from Xichang to Ya'an, I guarantee that this road will be opened to traffic within half a year, and the highway from Huili to Yucheng can also be started at the same time. In addition, the Jinsha River is not navigable, and some equipment can be transported by water. ”

When he said, Zhuang Jihua stood in front of the map, carefully reviewed the map, the current highway around Yucheng has been repaired, he used his finger to draw a curve on the map from Longchang, through Zigong, Qianwei, Muchuan, Yuexi, Xichang, and then to Huili.

"Jinsha River water transport?" Zhuang Jihua looked up at Ren Naiqiang, he didn't know much about the Jinsha River, he only knew that this was the most treacherous waterway in China, and the transportation difficulties even exceeded the Three Gorges.

"The Jinsha River can be transported by water," Ren Naiqiang said in an accentuated tone: "The British have tried, put down three boats, and two of them have reached Yibin safely." ”

Zhuang Jihua almost sprayed, this is also called water transportation, sure enough, water conservancy expert Cao Ruizhi retorted: "This section of the Jinsha River, the drop is too big, the water flow is too rapid, which is conducive to power generation, but not conducive to shipping, this waterway is far more dangerous than the Three Gorges waterway, and even if the road is built, it is impossible to build the road from Huili to Yucheng in a year." Please see, from Huili to Yucheng to cross many rivers, the big ones are Dadu River, Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, and other small rivers have seven or eight, and seven or eight highway bridges have to be repaired, so many bridges want to be completed within a year, it is simply impossible. ”

These words almost knocked Zhuang Jihua down, yes, it is impossible for so many bridges to be completed in one year, and his mind began to turn to how to expand the Qijiang Iron and Steel Plant and the Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant, but he felt that it was not right, these two factories alone could never meet the needs of the Anti-Japanese War.

It seems that Panzhihua still has to be built, but it can't give too much hope, and eastern Sichuan, central Sichuan, and southern Sichuan should also strengthen prospecting efforts and strive to find a few more big mines.

(To be continued)