Yang Du's mood is calm, even in the depths of his heart, he is also full of interest in Baotou, a territory in China, just a distant border town, but in just a few years, it has developed to the point that even the powerful Beiyang Army has to step sideways, what a magical development, almost earth-shaking changes. ―. {2} {3} {w} {x}].

The prosperity of Beiyang, Yang Du knows very well, from the year from Li Zhongtang inherited part of the old foundation of Beiyang, with the help of small station training, Yuan Shikai spent 20 years, only to accumulate 70,000 Beiyang Army, thinking that China has no opponent, but did not expect that when he met Baotou this alternative, several years of painstaking development, has been similar to Beiyang, whether it is the real strength, or bluff, always have to go over to see to know.

Leaving Yuan Shikai's mansion, Yang Du did not stay too much, he was Yuan Shikai's staff, only had to act in accordance with Yuan Shikai's orders, since Yuan Shikai assigned him to go to Baotou, then go, for the time being, as far as Baotou's table xiàn is concerned, there is not much malice towards Beiyang, otherwise, in Zhangjiakou, he has the strength to hit Beiyang hard, as long as the whole army is out, from Shanxi and Shaanxi currently show the number, there are more than 150,000 troops.

How did Baotou support so many troops, it was the great powers behind it, Yang Du heard that the development of Baotou was inseparable from the support of Germany, but does Germany really have the ability to arm more than 150,000 troops, and those steel mills, Baotou has taken out some strength to build an army, and the poor soldiers are still at ease, these need to go to the northwest and experience it for themselves.

Out of the city of Beijing, travel in China. In the 20th century, things changed, even if it was the traditional literati Yang Du. You can also travel by train, and the train is indeed much more convenient. In the past, it took at least a month or two to travel from Beijing to Shanxi, but now, with the help of the train, it can be reached in a few days.

Transfer in Shijiazhuang, from Zhengtai line, to Taiyuan, by the way to Baotou, Baotou **. Fighting with the Beiyang Army, the nearest Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, but because of Zhangjiakou's confrontation, it was impossible to enter at all, even if Yang Dugui was Yuan Shikai's staff, he also knew that the gentleman did not stand under the dangerous wall, rashly crossing the war zone, unless he was disgusted with his life. The northern front was completely vetoed.

Yang Du asked himself if he didn't care about his life, he chose to take a detour to Taiyuan, and also see how the Taiyuan he had been to a few years ago had changed from now. Beiyang and Baotou. The two sides are in a state of hostility, and the Zhengtai line has been running normally, which is a tacit thing between each other. The Beiyang side is afraid that after blocking the Zhengtai line, it will touch the bottom line of Baotou. Crazy attack Henan Hebei, while Baotou. Of course, I don't want the Zhengtai line to be broken, although there are other means, even caravans and merchants, to transport Baotou's products, but in the era of industrialization, the number of goods produced by large-scale industrial production is huge, and if there is no Zhengtai line, the efficiency does not know how much to decline, which is intolerable to Baotou.

Since becoming Yuan Shikai's staff, Yang Du has never been to the northwest, nor has he taken the Zhengtai line, he did not find that compared to other Chinese railways, the speed of the Zhengtai line is slightly faster, Shanxi is the most affected by Baotou a province, even if Baotou adopts a low-key style, but the secret Zhengtai line, especially the transformation of the Zhengtai line on this side of Shanxi, is also underway, although there is no big fight, but it also makes the speed of the Zhengtai line, increased by 5 kilometers, and the density of the traffic has increased by about 3 times.

You must know that the original average speed of the Zhengtai line, that is, about 20 kilometers and 5 kilometers, is equivalent to an increase of about 25%, plus the use of some Baotou's control and command methods, the overall capacity of the Zhengtai line has increased by more than 3 times compared with before, and it is one of the important channels for Baotou goods to go to the south.

After Baotou **, Mongolia and Shanxi belonged to the northwest, and Guangming Zhengda began a series of transformations, including the railway itself, as well as the command system, but the time is still shallow, especially in order to avoid the overall change of the Zhengtai line, the choice of another parallel Shanxi railway, so Yang Du can not realize the ultra-high-speed railway of more than 80 kilometers in Baotou, at least now there is no way.

Along the Zhengtai line, Yang Du spent almost 2 days, along Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, was frightened by the scene of Taiyuan, is this Taiyuan, how to feel, with Shanghai, to be exact, to the Shanghai concession of the kind of feeling, everywhere are high-rise buildings under construction, and the road is also a smooth ash pavement.

Yang Du learned the emperor's mental art, in order to assist a hero, even an emperor, the more important cities in the north, Yang Du has traveled, Taiyuan is an important city in the north, but it is not a more developed city, Yang Du has come to see more than ten years ago, even as the capital of a province, Taiyuan is much worse than other capitals.

The importance of Taiyuan lies in the fact that it is an important artery connecting Zhili and Mongolia, and is an important place for the central government to balance Mongolia, Shanxi is relatively strong and relatively barren, which is clearly shown in Taiyuan, Yang Du has been to Taiyuan more than ten years ago, and even before 1908, Taiyuan is like this, but now, with the development of Shanxi, especially the development of Baotou, the cities directly driven by Datong, Zhangjiakou, Suiyuan and Taiyuan, In addition to the satellite cities, Baotou will focus on the development of several cities, and in the future they will form a huge urban belt to drive the development of the entire northwest.

Among them, the farthest away from Baotou is Taiyuan, as the nest of Jin merchants, the end point of the Baotai Expressway, some necessary construction is still there, the first is the highway, the Baotai Expressway ends here, after the occupation of Taiyuan North, the construction of Taiyuan with great fanfare, the highway is the first to bear the brunt.

Then there are all kinds of municipal facilities, because Baotou here, pay attention to hygiene, the overall urban planning is very perfect, even with Taiyuan side is the same, long before the new army in Baotou occupied Taiyuan, the city management of Taiyuan is no longer the final word of the Qing government, almost completely copied the model of Baotou.

Modern city management, extending to almost every corner of the city, and the Qing Dynasty management style, is completely different, even the old residents of Taiyuan, will find that Taiyuan has undergone rapid changes, not to mention that Yang Du has not been here for several years, and even in the past few months, Taiyuan has changed even more.

After the overthrow of the Qing government, Taiyuan fell into the arms of the Northwest Government, the Northwest Government invested a huge amount of money, the main investment direction is the construction of the city and the municipal administration, in the new area specially set aside a large area, as an industrial and light industry construction, a large number of light industry factories, distributed here, has become a new bright spot in Taiyuan, in the past, the city of Taiyuan, only in the center, to carry out transformation, as far as possible to maintain the original flavor of Taiyuan.

Later generations, in order to develop, some ancient buildings and historical significance of things to destroy, these are precisely China's proudest and precious, compared with later generations, China a century earlier, embarked on the road of development, because Yang Yuanzhao and the all-in-one machine, can develop faster than foreign countries, there is no need to develop in such a way as ruin, it is completely possible to build a new city in the wasteland, or an unimportant small city.

In fact, this is also the main method of development of Baotou and the northwest, along the central city to expand outward, rows of high-rise buildings, replaced the past, dilapidated houses, not only to accommodate the personnel greatly increased, the structure of the whole city is becoming more and more reasonable, the original streets of Taiyuan, now have become gray roads, clean and flat, in the city of Taiyuan, in addition to a large number of carriages, actually saw one or two cars, as well as trucks, these are new products of Baotou, along the footsteps of Jin merchants and merchants, Entered Taiyuan.

These are very rare things even in foreign countries, but now they are driving on the streets of Taiyuan, Yang Du is not uninformed, Beijing is also one of the most prosperous cities in China, one of the most new things, he will not think that cars and trucks are monsters, but so many quantities, really surprised Yang Du.

This is Taiyuan, belonging to the northwest of Taiyuan, Yang Du from the changes in Taiyuan, know the northwest, under the change of Baotou, will be very different, did not expect that it would be like this, do not come to the northwest in person, will never know what kind of changes have taken place in the northwest, such personal observation, only to find a transformative change.

If it is simply a change in wealth and the city itself, this is not enough, Beiyang has done its best, with the support of the great powers, it can also make a small city rich and rich, but what surprised him more was the mental state of the people, walking on the street, the mental state of all people, not insensitive or jumping out of the way, everyone's face, is full of hope, and even the pace is much faster, as if someone is chasing them behind them, urging them to hurry up.

Occasionally, on the street, I also saw some students, in front of the masses to publicize, this let the Qing court a little discolored, but in Taiyuan normal progress, some idlers are watching the excitement, more people are in a hurry, when passing through a factory, just meet the factory shift, dark blue uniform clothing, laughter and laughter of the workers, whether to work, or off work, are so happy, this is enough to explain the problem.

Yang Du's destination is Baotou, and there is no longer a stay, from Taiyuan towards, Baotou, it is easier, Zhengtai line is close to Shanxi, is building a new line, when the new line is completed, it will change the line, completely and Taiyuan station together.

After Yang Du asked some people, he knew that the fastest way to go to Taiyuan was to take a train, and the fast train had several flights a day, the price was a little more expensive, but it was better than fast, almost half a day to reach Baotou, he was surprised, or went to the newly built railway station, to buy a train ticket to Baotou. (To be continued......) R640