The Zhengda Railway is a branch line of the Jinghan Railway. Connecting Hebei Zhengding and Shanxi Crying Chen Xiao in Zhengding and Jinghan Railway Rendezvous, from Zhengding can go south to Wuhan or north to Beijing.

Zhengtai Railway began to be planned in the dumb year. Originally, the right to build the railway was appropriated by Russia, but due to the financial difficulties of the Russian government. Private financing was also unrealistic, so Russia soon sold the right to build the railway to a French consortium after obtaining the right to build it. And finally in the year of the coffee was completed and opened to traffic.

With the support of the central government, the Jinghan Railway Company reached an agreement with the French consortium in Xinnian. The company acquired Zhengtai Railway by way of share exchange. Since then, the railway has been under the management of the Jinghan Road Bureau, due to the unification of powers, the railway capacity has been fully utilized, because Shanxi is an important charcoal base, the Jinghan Road Bureau and the Ministry of Railways used two years to build a number of Zhengtai railway branch lines in Shanxi, connecting most of Shanxi with steel ties. It is through these railway networks. Shanxi's medium charcoal energy is continuously exported to large and small cities and industrial bases across the country. Some of the coal was transferred directly from Zhengding to Beijing and Tianjin.

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Thanks to the strong support of the central government of China, the industrial exhibition. Shanxi's coal mining industry has been greatly developed over the past few years, and it is not only Chinese businessmen who have profited from it, but also foreign businessmen. Thereinto. The most representative is the German businessman Hannagen.

Hannagan has been living and doing business in China for more than two decades, for this eastern country. He already knows him very well, and it can be said that he is a typical "China expert", and it is precisely because of this that he can run a business in China smoothly.

More than half of the credit for Hannagan's success in China's shopping malls is due to his political friends, and because he was a guest at the presidential palace, he can be seen as a friend of Mr. President's in a sense. Everywhere he went, he met "friends" because they all wanted to hook up with the president through Hannagan.

Of course, the president is not something that anyone can meet casually. Only a very small number of lucky people have been connected to the president through Hannagan, and most of them have not become a wealthy man like Hannagan because they know Mr. President of China, but this does not affect the "good feelings" of officialdom and shopping mall figures towards Mr. Hannagan. The county foreigners can go to the sky.

Hannagan himself is well aware of this. So. He has always maintained a friendship with Mr. President. Every time there is a traditional Chinese festival or to visit the president, he has to personally choose a gift for Mr. President. He also knew that Mr. President didn't care much about money, but he did. That Mr. President had a special hobby. That is to collect firearms from all over the world, from pistols to rifles. From shotguns to antique guns, the president was always there, and even set up a showroom in the presidential palace for this purpose, which was used to keep the collection. Although it was not often seen that Mr. President played with his collection of firearms, Hannagan used it as an opportunity to strengthen his friendship with the president. For the sake of this friendship, Hannagan made several trips to Europe every year to assemble all sorts of bizarre foreign firearms for the president, including even the oldest muskets.

Hannagan's piety paid off, and he was able to unite several Chinese businessmen to form a large coal conglomerate, which was inseparable from the strong support of Mr. President, although Hannagan knew very well that the president was not simply supporting him in the mechanized media industry for the sake of "personal friendship", but at least for the time being, Hannagan's profits from the butterfly charcoal were enough to make the eyes of the European mobs hot, in fact, even by German standards, Hannagan is now a real big man. Even His Majesty the German Kaiser was full of praise for his "commercial miracle in the Far East" and even summoned him several times, for a retired officer. What an honor, and Hannagen often hung the medal on his chest with the Kaiser's own hand.

But Hannagan was more concerned with practical interests than with these illusory glories, and now he was worried about one thing. This matter is directly related to his interests.

Some time ago, Hannagan and several German prospecting experts have been wandering around the ravine in Shanxi, looking for coal mines with larger reserves and more convenient mining, so when he learned that the war had broken out in Europe, it was already the second day that the German ** team entered Luxembourg. His "commercial miracle" in the Far East is likely to be a Waterloo, because according to newspaper reports, the British and French governments have made it clear. It is hoped that China will sever diplomatic relations with Germany and expel German citizens in China.

It was, of course, an alarmist report, and the newspaper was a British daily newspaper published in China. Mr. Hannagan, on the other hand, saw the newspaper in a French church on the outskirts of Taiyuan. Although he thought at the time that this was probably a conspiracy of the British newspapers, out of caution, he decided to go to Beijing immediately, take Mr. President's special business card, and meet the president, who coincidentally also took a telegram. Invite Hannagan to the presidential palace. "Reminiscing"

Of course, he could not go empty-handed, Hannagan brought with him an antique gun collected in the people, this is a frog gun, and according to the inscription on the gun, Hannagan can conclude that this antique gun was made by the French arsenal. It was made exactly at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and judging by the inscriptions. It is likely that this old rifle was equipped by the guards of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, and as for why this old French rifle ended up in this eastern country, Hannagan can also boldly speculate. Perhaps, the army of Emperor Napoleon invaded Russia. During a certain battle with the Russian army, this French rifle was left on the battlefield. Then he was picked up by an unknown guy, and then he was exiled to Central Asia, and then he was introduced to China through the Han Chi caravans that walked in the area of the old corridor of the West of Central 7, and finally by a certain obscure talent... The reason is in Shanxi.

Hannagan speculated that this old-fashioned rifle made in France was probably a weapon used by a certain firm in the Jin merchants to protect the caravan, and with the development of the times, the new rifle replaced the old-fashioned rifle, so the old-fashioned rifle that had been used by the French Imperial Guards fell into the hands of ordinary Orion, and it is rare that Orion obviously cherished this condensation gun very much, although this old-fashioned rifle has a history of almost a hundred years. However, it was still very well maintained and could still shoot normally, and in order to get this historic antique gun, Hannah hated to leave his own German shotgun in Orion's possession.

Hannagan has a good reason why he values this old rifle so much, because the president often refers to himself as the "second Napoleon in the world", although he never said it so explicitly, but Hannagan can see that the president does have a lot of respect for the French dictator and dictator. And. Mr. President is clearly learning from that military strongman as well.

As it happens, Hannagen himself was also an admirer of Napoleon.

If this rifle used by the Emperor Napoleon's guards were given to Mr. President, it would certainly have a symbolic meaning and would obviously be very helpful in maintaining the friendship between Mr. President and Hannagan.

Because of this, Hannagan specially asked a carpenter to order a rectangular box to hold this antique gun, and he personally carried it, except for him, no one wanted to touch this box at will, Hannagan made up his mind to give this gift to Mr. President himself.

Now, Hannagan has the box next to him, and he himself is sitting on a train. Heading towards Beijing.

This is not an ordinary passenger car, but a train of trucks transporting coal into Beijing, from Taiyuan car, the destination is Beijing, it is said that the most comfortable passenger car, but Hannagan is not short of comfort now, he lacks time, now China and Japan are at war, the operation of the bus can not be guaranteed, only the truck is the most reliable, especially the truck transporting coal, industry, warships are inseparable from charcoal, the more in the wartime. The supply of coal became more important, and it was with this in mind that Hannagan decided to use his connections at the Jinghan Road Bureau to add a passenger car to the back of the coal truck and take him directly to Beijing.

The journey went very smoothly, and now that the train has passed through Changxindian, you will soon be able to see Beijing, and Hannagan is in a good mood. Although there are still some worries about the future, it is clear from the news gathered along the way that the Chinese central government has no intention of severing diplomatic relations with Germany, and it seems that German citizens do not have to worry about being deported.

The Japanese, on the other hand, are now completely invisible, and in the past, it was common to see Japanese ronin in China's train stations and hear their unbridled Japanese invective. But now, it seems, the whole of China can no longer see the Japanese.

Of course, there were still Japanese in the concession, but it was obviously impossible for them to compete with the German merchants, as for the Eime and French merchants. At present, I am also worried about the situation in Europe, but it is not much more solid than the German businessmen, after all. They also know that China's relationship with the German government is not ordinary.

Finally, hearing the whistle of the train approaching the station, Hannagan eagerly hugged the wooden box containing the antique French rifle, for fear of falling the box when he braked. The German prospecting experts in the same car felt a little unbelievable when they saw this rich man so nervous. But they didn't show any expressions. Germans, always stereotyped, recognized

Target.

Fortunately, the train driver was very experienced and very calm during the whole process of entering the station, and when the train finally stopped, Hannagan let out a long sigh. Holding the wooden box, he hurried to the car door, and his assistants were already carrying their luggage and followed him.

It's not a big front gate train station, it's a coal yard, and it's a little way from the city, but Hannagan doesn't have to worry about transportation. Because when he got off the train, he saw two Chinese standing on the platform waiting for him.

"Hello, Hannagan. I am Mr. Ministry's butler, he sent me to pick you up, I have prepared a few cars for you and your companions, you can go directly to Xishan Villa with me, or you can go back to the Six Nations Hotel. ”

A Chinese man walked up and bowed to Hannagan. Then he straightened up, raised his hand, and pointed to the bottom of the platform.

Hannagan wasn't polite. The butler who followed the butler sent by the ministry got into a car, and then the group left the train station and, according to Hannagan's instructions, rushed directly to the Liuguo Hotel in the embassy area of Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing.

However, as soon as the motorcade approached the front gate of Beijing, it encountered a group of young students, who were holding up slogans and shouting slogans, looking very excited.

"What happened?"

Hannagan couldn't make out what was written on the sign because of the distance, so he had to ask the butler.

"Sir, you didn't read today's newspaper? The Chinese National Defense Forces fought bloody battles on the front line, and last night they completely annihilated the Japanese "advance team of the First Army of the First Army" and killed the commander of the Japanese army. Now, the youth are holding a victory parade. ”

"Ahh It turned out that this was the case, and I was not surprised, the squadron performed very well in this war. ”

Hannagan nodded, saying that although he said this, he still felt a little emotional, but in just a few years, China has become so strange that Hannagan even wondered if it was a dream.

It looks strange, but it's familiar. That's how Hannagan now understands China.

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