Guizhou, known as Yelang in ancient times, is mountainous, multi-ethnic, and rich in minerals, but it is also one of the poorest provinces in the country, and its poverty even exceeds that of Gansu and Qinghai. The difficulties in Guizhou's development far exceed those of Sichuan, and are completely different from Sichuan. Sichuan has been a country of abundance since ancient times, and the West Sichuan Plain is one of the most famous granaries in China, and its products are completely self-sufficient. But Guizhou can't, since Yongzheng began to change the land and return to the stream, Guizhou has never been self-sufficient in grain, and a large amount of grain has to be transferred from Sichuan and Hubei every year.

After becoming chairman of Guizhou Province, Wu Dingchang first began with the rectification of officialdom, promoted a large number of intellectual-type officials, vigorously rectified county-level officials, and replaced ninety percent of county magistrates in two years. This move was fully supported by Chiang Kai-shek, and in a short time the former Guizhou warlords almost wiped out the power of the former Guizhou warlords in the local administration.

After two years of exploration, large coalfields were found in Liupanshui, Zhijin and northern Qianbei, iron ore was found in Shuicheng and Dushan, and bauxite was also discovered; In the report submitted by the exploration team, there are also several small-scale copper mines.

Guizhou is mountainous, traffic has always been inconvenient, there are several highways from the provincial capital to spread outward, these roads are still some simple roads, rain watered, muddy and difficult to walk, the best Chongqing-Guizhou highway is still built after the development of the southwest.

In order to improve Guizhou's transportation, traffic design experts submitted a transportation construction plan for four backbone lines and six branch lines to Zhuang Jihua. These four backbone lines are Sichuan-Guizhou Highway, Yunnan-Guizhou Highway, Hunan-Guizhou Highway, and Guizhou-Guizhou Highway; The six branch highways are Tongzi to Bijie, Bijie to Liupanshui, from Tongzi to Tongren via Dejiang, from Tongren to Lushan (now Kaili City), from Lushan to Dushan, from Dushan to Liupanshui via Zhenning; These six lines form a ring that connects the whole of Guizhou.

There is not an inch of railway in Guizhou, and after Wu Dingchang took charge of Guizhou, he proposed to build the Guizhou-Guizhou Railway, but as soon as this matter was put on the agenda, the Anti-Japanese War broke out, and the railway ended without a problem. Mr. Wu was so eager to complete the railway, so when Mr. Zhuang spoke to him, he urged him to restart the project.

Zhuang Jihua couldn't bear to refuse Wu Dingchang's enthusiasm, so he had to persuade euphemistically: "Chairman Wu, I originally had a plan, but the funds were insufficient, so I temporarily replaced it with a road." At present, the state is financially insufficient, and the fiscal deficit is very large, and it is unable to come up with so much money. ”

Wu Dingchang was a little disappointed, but what Zhuang Jihua said was also the truth, the war led to financial tensions, the fiscal deficit was staggering, Kong Xiangxi had to use the method of printing money to solve the difficulties, which led to high prices, Zhuang Jihua had to implement grain control in Sichuan.

As the southwest development team entered Sichuan in a big way, Guizhou's grain control was also put on the agenda, and of course not only grain control, but also rent and interest reduction, household registration management, social reform, and another important task, the suppression of bandits.

The bandits in Guizhou are far more serious than those in Sichuan, and are one of the most serious areas in the country; after seven years of crackdowns, the bandits in Sichuan have become extinct, and the remaining small bandits are hiding in Xikang and northeastern Sichuan to survive.

After the bandits in Sichuan were hit, some of them crossed the provincial border and entered the territory of Guizhou, where they merged with the bandits in Guizhou, the War of Resistance was in full swing, the rear troops were successively sent to the front line, the troops in the three southwestern provinces were empty, and the bandits became active again, and sometimes even openly robbed outside the city of Guiyang, and the police could not help.

In order to exterminate the bandits in Guizhou, Zhuang Jihua transferred Zhao Hanjie's special forces, the teaching team of the 49th Group Army, and some anti-smuggling teams to form an anti-bandit force, and adopted the strategy of paying equal attention to suppression and appeasement, but the pacified bandits were all sent to Sichuan and incorporated into Huang Botao's 112th Army.

Huang Botao was very excited after accepting the task, and finally said that he ran around Sichuan, and collected more than 2,000 wounded veterans from the hospital in Yucheng, Zhuang Jihua persuaded the troops in Sichuan to draw five regiments from the instructors who stayed, of course, this is still not enough, Huang Botao went to the hospital in Wuhan and collected about 4,000 wounded soldiers, most of these soldiers are soldiers of the Northwest Army and the Hunan Army, so that he finally got enough backbone of the troops, returned to Sichuan, and got 20,000 newly recruited soldiers, and finally filled the number of an army.

Xia Yanglin returned to Sichuan as scheduled, Deng Yanda stuffed more than 40 officers into the army in various ways, but Dai Anlan was a little troublesome, Tang Enbo resolutely refused to let go, but Zhuang Jihua was resolute, which made He Yingqin very embarrassed, both of which were Chiang Kai-shek's descendants, although Zhuang Jihua's balance was slightly tilted, Tang Enbo was also the object of Chiang Kai-shek's support. More importantly, Tang Enbo put forward an important reason, saying that the army was about to attack, and changing generals on the spot would be taboo. Dai Anlan's transfer was slowed down in this way.

Following the development of Chongqing, 30 working groups were immediately dispatched to various parts of Guizhou, but the impact of the war was still evident, and the convoy to protect them was not as large as before, with only four or five guards with combat experience in each working group, and the rest were all armed with guns.

Just like the development of Chongqing, after the working group went down, there were many difficulties, and all the local heroes and powers in various places resisted, and all the two working groups were killed within a week, and the resistance of Guizhou Haoqiang was far more tyrannical and bloody than that of Yucheng, which made Zhuang Jihua a little surprised.

"There is no king's law! Extremely daring! Zhuang Jihua roared in the office, waving his fangs like a wounded beast: "Check! Once investigated, the murderer will not be tolerated! ”

Wu Dingchang sighed beside him and shook his head, he has governed Guizhou for several years, and knows the situation in Guizhou very well, Guizhou has strong local forces, the former chairman of Guizhou Province Wang Jialie relied on the support of the military in Tongzi region to become the chairman of the province, and the previous Yuan Zuming, Liu Xianshi, and Zhou Xicheng also relied on the support of local forces to come to power, in addition, don't look at Guizhou's poverty, there are many high-ranking Kuomintang officials who have gone out of Guizhou, He Yingqin, the three brothers of the Gu family, Zhu Shaoliang, etc., these people were all important figures in the Guizhou army in the early days, and the Guizhou army has always been a supporter of Sun Yat-sen, Except for Yuan Zuming, most of the losers in the internal strife of the Guizhou army went south to the political axe of Guangzhou.

"Cultural Revolution, cautious, cautious." Wu Dingchang worriedly persuaded that he did not object to tracking down the murderer, but he was worried that Zhuang Jihua would kill on a large scale, and Wu Dingchang had heard a lot of rumors about his behavior in Sichuan.

"Troubled times use heavy codes!" The green tendons on Zhuang Jihua's forehead jumped vigorously, and his murderous tone made Wu Dingchang a little frightened: "What we want now is to be brave, not cautious." Speaking of which, he glanced at Wu Dingchang whitely, if he hadn't looked at Wu Dingchang's white hair, his attitude would have been even more fierce: "I'm not afraid of killing, as long as it's beneficial to the country, kill as many as you want." ”

"These two detachments were killed in Dushan and Tongren, which are originally rampant bandits, what if the bandits did it?" Wu Dingchang reminded.

"No way, the bandits won't care about social reforms and rent and interest cuts." Zhuang Jihua did not hesitate to make a judgment, but he also faced specific difficulties, the garrison in Guizhou was insufficient, and it was precisely because of this that these people dared to kill the working group so unscrupulously and publicly.

"Secretary Gong," Gong Xiuhua immediately appeared beside him: "Call Huang Botao immediately, the 112th Army will move to Guizhou and train in Guizhou." ”

"The 112th Army has just become an army, isn't it too fast?" Gong Xiuhua asked tentatively, but the meaning of this move in Wu Dingchang's eyes was very different, and he realized that this woman who looked weak had a great influence on Zhuang Jihua.

"It's nothing, a bunch of clowns jumping off the beam, just to test the knife for them." Zhuang Jihua didn't care, these local tyrants were just caught off guard, and they couldn't confront the regular army at all.

"In addition, immediately set up ten security regiments in Guizhou." Zhuang Jihua also said to Wu Dingchang that Wu Dingchang not only served as the chairman of Guizhou Province, but also served as the commander of Guizhou's security, and this appointment made Zhuang Jihua feel inexplicable, and let such a literati who had never held a gun serve as the commander of security, and Chiang Kai-shek really dared to use it, I am afraid that the real purpose was still aimed at the Guizhou army.

Wu Dingchang hesitated but nodded in agreement, he could see that Zhuang Jihua was now angry, and he couldn't listen to any advice, only when his anger passed, and then persuade him, if it didn't work, he could write to Chiang Kai-shek. What he is most worried about is that once the opposition of local forces is aroused, it will inevitably affect the stability of Guizhou, and the current situation in the country cannot withstand turbulence.

Zhuang Jihua glanced at Wu Dingchang and added: "Chairman Wu, I know that you have never led soldiers, I want to ask Chen Mingshu to assist you, I don't know your opinion....?" ”

Wu Dingchang couldn't help but look at Zhuang Jihua twice, and suddenly he understood that Zhuang Jihua had not lost his mind at all, and he still remained calm in his heart, otherwise he would never say such a thing.

Guizhou originally had 12 security regiments, most of these security regiments were left by the warlords of the Guizhou army, and they were inextricably linked, after the start of the Anti-Japanese War, almost all of them were transferred to the front line to replenish the casualties of the troops, but most of the soldiers who went up were left, and the backbone and officers were left, and the heads of these security regiments also became a local tyrant.

"That's the best," Wu Dingchang nodded in agreement, and then said: "During the Cultural Revolution, the situation in Guizhou was complicated, and some things could be done slowly. ”

Zhuang Jihua shook his head: "No, Chairman Wu, the people not only hope to defeat Yue himself, but also hope to change the current situation of Chinese society. The country can be reborn in the fire, and we hope that there will be an incorruptible political axe, which can unite the whole country closely and eliminate social injustice, so we will wage war against these ugly phenomena, and the people will support us, because in the end we are protecting their interests. If we back down now and don't fight back harshly, the people will be disappointed in us, and the policy will be more difficult to implement, and they will turn to our enemies, and the policy will be more difficult to implement, and we will back down even more, and this will create a vicious cycle that will eventually shake the foundation of the political axe. ”

(To be continued)