Boiled in the vastness. The plain was silent, except for the fact that the railroad was still noisy, and the trains were heading north, and the carriages were brightly lit.

This is a passenger train, the starting station is Zhengzhou, Henan Province, and the final station is Shenyang, Liaoning Province, passing through Beijing.

As an ordinary passenger on this bus, Zhan Tianyou was not sleepy at all, and unlike other passengers, he did not stay in the carriage, but stood on the boarding platform between the two carriages. Leaning against the guardrail, looking up at the starry sky with your hands behind your back.

The night sky is full of stars, the cold moon is forested, and although the temperature is high, standing on the train, the wind coming from there is still very pleasant. Listening to the sonorous wheels of the industrial age and smelling the faint smell of soot in the air, Zhan Tianyou was in a very good mood.

Zhan Tianyou came from Lanzhou, Gansu Province, and returned to Beijing this time for two main purposes: first, to return to Beijing to report on his work, and to report to the center on the construction of the Jiayuguan branch of the Longhai Railway; Second, the official appointment of the central center will be accepted in a few days. He is the chief of the Ministry of Railways, and he will plan the country's railway business in the future.

To tell the truth, Zhan Tianwei actually doesn't want to take over as the head of the Ministry of Qindao now, he wants to finish the "Han railway" first, because the terrain of Sichuan is too complex, the difficulty of railway construction is too high, therefore, so far, the Sichuan-Han railway has not been fully completed, although several branch railways in Sichuan have been completed and opened to traffic, but the trunk line connecting Wuhan still needs a period of time to complete, as the main person in charge of the work of the Ministry of Railways, Zhan Tianyou does not care about the official hat, he cares about industrial construction, is railway constructionHe believes that as long as Zhao Bei is still the yuan of this country, then, his industrial construction plan and railway construction plan can be fully presided over by the president, this is a fact, in the past four times, without the support of Zhao Bei, China's railway industry will not achieve such brilliant results, and it is precisely because of this that Zhan Tianyou fully agrees with Zhao Bei's participation in the next presidential election and re-election. Continued to serve as the head of the state and continued to support his railway construction.

The reason why the construction of the Han Railway is progressing slowly. In addition to the relationship with the topography of Sichuan, the development of the Longhai railway branch line project is also another major reason. Zhao Bei's concern for the Longhai Railway is far greater than other railway trunk projects, and it is at the insistence of the young president that Zhan Tianwei was able to concentrate most of the railway technical forces and road construction workers, not only completed the construction of the Longhai Railway trunk line project half a year ahead of schedule, but also basically completed the construction of most of the Longhai Railway branch line projects, in the construction of the Longhai Railway, China's railway construction efficiency is enough to be proud of the Far East, of course, in addition to the contributions of China, the United States, and German engineering and technical experts, China's road builders and railway engineering troops also played a vital role in this, without the hard work of these Chinese. There would be no today's railway business exhibition, and Zhan Tianyi's fame would not skyrocket.

All of this, in the final analysis, comes from the support of the president, so from the bottom of his heart, Zhan Tianyou is very grateful to the president, and he is also glad that such a wise and wise leader can appear in this country.

It is precisely for this reason that Zhan Tianjie did not hesitate to reject the proposal of some people to suggest that he participate in the presidential campaign, in his opinion, in this era, no one is more qualified to serve as president than Zhao Bei.

Now, standing on the boarding platform at the junction of the train carriages, looking at the stars in the night sky, Zhan Tianyou couldn't help but sigh.

"There are talented people from generation to generation, and each has led the way for hundreds of years."

"Hah! Zhan Gong, you are here to be a good Yaxing. In the middle of the night, I don't rest, but I chant poetry here, and I want to come here in a good mood. ”

Before Zhan Tianxuan finished sighing, he heard someone behind him playing haha, so he turned his head to look, an officer in military uniform had come out of the drug box, and was standing behind him, it was no one else, but it was Xiong Bingkun, a major general of the engineering corps, this time he returned to Beijing, Zhan Tianyou was also walking with this person, in the past few years, the cooperation between the two was very pleasant, without the railway engineering troops commanded by Xiong Bingkun, the Longhai Railway would not have been built so quickly.

"Dai Gan, I'm not sleepy at all, whenever I think about my future career, my mood is not happy, but I am excited. Imagine what a spectacular spectacle it would be if China had 10,000 kilometers of railways, and if China had 50,000 kilometers of railways, then, I can assure, China has definitely become a world power. ”

Zhan Tianyou's words made Xiong Yuzhong laugh and shake his head again and again.

"Zhan Gong, you're bragging, I'm afraid even the United States doesn't have such a long railway line. Besides, the president has told me about it before. Now, this train technology is better than automobile technology, and in the future, automobile technology will surpass train technology, so the future construction of Qin Road may go hand in hand with highway construction, and the center cannot spend so much money to build railways, and highway construction is also the focus of the center's attention. If we really build 50,000 kilometers of railways as you said, I think the center will not do anything else, just patronize the rails and locomotives for us. ”

Xiong Bingkun's words did not make Zhan Tianyi angry, on the contrary, the engineering expert who usually does not smile also smiled faintly.

"Dai Gan, I know that China's finances are still tight at present, and it is impossible to give it all to the railway industry, but I didn't say how many years it will take to complete the 50,000 kilometers of railways. The president has a hot head. Let us pull out the seedlings and help them grow. But Shan saw that the president was a man with ideals. But he's more of a guy at the same time. A reasonable person, although he saw the backward side of China's industrial construction, he did not put forward any lofty goals, and he formulated the "four industrial set plan." It is completely in accordance with the actual situation of our China, so now this industrial exhibition plan has basically been completed, and as this. An important component of the industrial plan, our railway engineering department, has passed in the end. Dai Gan, speaking of which, I have to thank you a lot. Without your engineering troops, the Longhai Railway would not have been completed and opened to traffic so soon, and in the future, if the follow-up funds of the Sichuan-Han Railway are in place, it will inevitably trouble you. ”

"Zhan Gong is polite, they are all Chinese. For the sake of the rise of this country, of course, we do not distinguish between each other. However, our engineering troops may not be able to help with the Sichuan-Han Railway, and the telegram I received on my return to Beijing this time has already made clear the whereabouts of the engineering troops, and we will soon be transferred out of the western region, and we may not be able to participate in the construction of the railway again in a short period of time. ”

Xiong Bingkun's words made Zhan Tianyou a little surprised, so he asked: "Where did the central center transfer your engineers to?"

Xiong Bingkun shook his head with a smile and said, "This." It's inconvenient for me to tell you, Zhan Gong, don't ask, this is a military secret

"I know, I know. I won't ask, I'm afraid I can only rely on road builders for the construction of the Sichuan-Hanzhou Railway, but in this case, additional construction funds will be needed, and I will have to talk to the president about this issue when I get to Beijing. ”

Zhan Tianyou nodded a little cross, although he is not a soldier, but the days of dealing with engineers are not short, and he knows more or less about this military problem.

Xiong Bingkun hesitated for a moment, and then made up his mind, so he took a step forward and said a few words to Zhan Tianwei.

"Zhan Gong, when you talk to the president, can you mention this presidential election by the way? Now that he has not submitted his application form to Congress, there are already rumors in the military that the president is ready to follow the example of Washington, the founding president of the United States, and intends to retire and sacrifice his career for the cause of the Republic

"Oh? There are also rumors of this in the army? I've heard similar sayings, but they're all from the country, and they don't say anything about Washington, they say the ancient "Zen Rang." Dai Qian, what do you think of the presidential election? ”

Zhan Tianyou was a little surprised, he had also heard similar rumors, but they were all from the constitutionalists, as for the ideological state of the army. He never cared.

"Zhan Gong, I don't know how to tell any big truths, don't tell people everywhere if you don't mess with you. I don't think anyone else can sit in this presidential position, I only admire Zhao Zhenhua, and I can't look down on others. Xiong Bingkun whispered.

Hearing this, Zhan Tian's heart sank. He suddenly realized that this presidential election seemed to be peaceful, but in fact it was an undercurrent, and if nothing else, the issue of the loyalty of this army alone was very worrying, since the end of the Qing Dynasty. If it weren't for Zhao Bei's efforts to turn the tide and subdue most of the party forces with both soft and hard forces, I am afraid that the situation of martial artists competing for power in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties would be staged again.

A soldier is a warrior, and what a warrior admires most is not a national dollar elected by ballot, but a person who is more powerful than himself, and the words of the major general Xiong in front of him are the representatives.

Thinking of this, Zhan Tianyou suddenly felt a little cold, he was originally looking forward to an election scene similar to the US election, but now it seems that he really has to weigh this matter well, the national conditions are different, the national strength is different, and he really can't copy the experience of foreign countries, now that the republic has just been established, he really needs a person who can stabilize the overall situation, and this person obviously cannot be an unarmed politician like Zhang Han and Li Yuanhong. can only be a person with heavy troops, and it can only be Zhao Bei Zhao Zhenhua.

Understanding this, Zhan Tianjie took a resolute position, for the stability of the country, Zhao Bei must be re-elected as president, and he must continue to eradicate local powerful factions, which will lay no foundation for the consolidation of the republican system.

Seeing that Zhan Tianwei didn't speak for a long time. Xiong Bingkun was a little strange, so he asked, "Zhan Gong, what are you thinking?" Am I not right? ”

Zhan Tianyou came back to his senses and shook his head. said: "You just said your own opinion, what's wrong?" If everyone could be as straightforward as you are, these things wouldn't be so complicated. By the way, since you support the president's re-election, why don't you just go and tell him that the president will also receive you after returning to Beijing. ”

Xiong Bingkun: "Hehe. Laugh. said: "The president has long said that the military is not allowed to interfere in politics, the matter of this presidential election is politics, I don't dare to point fingers at the president, so ah, please Zhan Gong come forward and mention the position of the army to the president, we soldiers, we all admire the president, he said where to go, we will go."

After hearing these words, Zhan Tianyou was even more emotional.

"With such an army and such a group of generals, who else can compete with Zhao Zhenhua? Perhaps, this era belongs to Zhao Zhenhua, this is the choice of the times.