On September 11, 1898, immediately after the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, which had been completed and opened to traffic, Huang Zhongliang, Minister of Railways of Seris, submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic a proposal to start the construction of two railway trunk lines, the "Lanxin Line" and the "Longhai Line".

The Longhai Railway, starting from Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, runs through the eastern, central and western regions of Seris, and finally ends in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, with a total length of 1,735 kilometers. As for the Lanxin railway, in fact, it is the extension of Longhai to the west, in principle, the two will be constructed simultaneously, the railway from Lanzhou to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Province, with a total length of 1,903 kilometers, because the terrain and climate along the way are complex, and there are also scattered large areas of uninhabited land next door, the whole railway will become the most arduous railway engineering project in the domestic engineering community since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Compared with the previous longitudinal railways, the planned railway lines in these two bills are the main inland railway lines of the Republic from east to west, and in addition to economic communication with the western region, they will also have indisputable huge interests in national defense. Of course, compared with the eastern railway trunk lines, the economic benefits of these railways are not so dazzling, so these two strategic railways can only be invested and built by the state!

In the face of this kind of bill related to national security, many members of the House of Representatives did not dwell on it, and only after Huang Zhongliang's more than 10 minutes of statement that morning, the entire railway construction bill passed the examination and approval of the National Assembly with a unanimous vote.

After the news came out, the people boiled again, although they all knew that the economic benefits of these two railways may not be as lucrative as the previous eastern railway, but after the passage of this bill, a large number of people in Seris still emerged to rush to buy railway bonds. Just like the Wenfu Railway, which was built in China in the early years to connect Fujian and Zhejiang, the Southern Railway Line with a total cost of 36 million Chinese yuan has recovered all the construction costs after only 19 months of operation, and can make an average net profit of 1.9 million Chinese yuan per month, which makes many people who have not bought this private railway stock regret it before. Up to now, almost all stocks and bonds related to railways will trigger fierce "scramble" among the local people as soon as they appear, and the relevant trading coupons can be kept for more than three days in the securities institutions and capital exchanges of various cities.

At a time when the people of Seris themselves are concerned about these two railways, many foreign forces have also shown unusual concern for this "phenomenon" in response to such a "fierce" enthusiasm for the construction of the railway, and among them, Russia and France are the most sensitive reactions.

While their own country is constantly speeding up the development of Hokkaido, the Russians are also a little nervous about their East Asian neighbor. Ever since the former Qing Dynasty Zuo Zongtang put down the rebellion in Xinjiang Province and brought the Russians home, the Russians have realized their weakness in the Far East. Later, Seris rose to prominence and killed Spain, Qing and Yueben one after another, and by this time, the Russians began to worry that Seris would plot to seize the Siberian region where it had very weak control. For this reason, the Russians accelerated the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway several times in succession. Therefore, from the first announcement of the plan for the westward expansion of the strategic railway, the Russians were most nervous and eager to obtain specific information about the entire railway.

Compared with the tensions in Russia, the French were most concerned about the two railways, not so much because of their strategic value, but simply because of their dissatisfaction with the restriction of their participation in the operation of the railway capital of the Republic.

From the first Luzon Ring Island Line railway in Seris to the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, which was recently completed and opened to traffic, the political axe of the Republic has restricted the capital of the corresponding engineering construction companies of domestic railways from the very beginning. It can be said that apart from the private capital of the country, the only way for foreign capital to participate in the investment in the domestic railways of Seris is to buy the railway bonds of the Republic, and other than that, they can only buy shares in the name of individuals, and the proportion of the number is clearly limited. Compared with the various rights of way that France can obtain by building railways elsewhere, there is no doubt that this "harsh" approach of the Cerris political axe has greatly hurt the "feelings" of the French people.

However, in the face of the political axe of the republic, which is now greatly strengthened, the French can only stare helplessly in the increasingly tough contact with Seris.

……

At the end of September, Chen Zeyu inspected the Shijiazhuang Army Military Academy, which was established only at the beginning of the year.

Shooting, Grenadiers, Horsemanship, Assassination, Repair, Gunnery, Civil Engineering, Surveying, Communications...... Compared with the earlier Sizhejiang Army Military Academy, the new Shijiazhuang Military Academy undoubtedly has much higher requirements for its cadets in terms of professional skills and training in various subjects. After all the affairs of the Republic were on the right track, the military crash course in the past has long become a historical term, and it is said that after having enough time, funds and equipment, Chen Zeyu has enough capital to carefully cast the future officer class of the Republic of Seris.

In terms of academic system, all military cadets enrolled in the military academy must go through at least three years of course study at the Shijiazhuang Army Military Academy, of which the first two and a half years are the study time in the school. After that, the cadet must obey the school's arrangement and go to the teaching units of various military subdivisions in the country for a six-month officer internship, and only after passing the examinations of all parties can the cadet finally become a glorious officer of the Republic Army.

During the walk, Chen Zeyu said with satisfaction, "Yes, the fighting spirit of the first batch of students is very strong, how many people are there in the school now?" ”

"Report to the head of state, counting the commission trainees selected and sent by several military regions, the total number of the first batch of scientific personnel in the school has reached 706."

It was the first principal of the Shijiazhuang Army Military Academy personally selected by Chen Zeyu who spoke under Duan Qirui of the German Army.

Chen Zeyu nodded and said, "Let's go, go to the martial arts arena and have a look!" ”

……

When he came to the martial arts arena of various major competitions in the military academy, Chen Zeyu, dressed in military uniform, began to observe with great interest the military subject competitions of these young cadets, and while he was in a happy mood, he also wanted to see if he could find a few more "future military gods" of the republic -- Chen Zeyu had already found historical celebrities on the roster of the military academy more than once.

Before in the Sizhejiang Military Academy, Chen Zeyu "excavated" such as Xu Xilin, Wu Peifu, Zhang Zuolin, Jin Yunpeng and others among the senior cadets. Before coming to Shijiazhuang Military Academy, he still asked the school for a list of students as if he was addicted, which surprised the new military academy principal Duan Qirui, a non-commissioned officer who studied in Germany.

The result really surprised Chen Zeyu, and among these young military academy cadets between the ages of 16 and 19, there are really many names that make Chen Zeyu thunderous.

Among the first cadets of this military academy, there are not only patriotic generals like Xu Shuzheng, Lan Tianwei, etc., who regained Outer Mongolia in the "future" and fought bloody battles, but also Jiang Baili, Zhang Xiaozhun, and Cai Yi, the three "Lu Shi Three Heroes" in the original history, and Chen Zeyu almost looked at his own eyes.

In another time and space, mentioning the "Three Heroes of Lu Shi" in the Republic of China is something that every republican lover will be deeply proud of. At that time, there were a total of 379 graduates of the ninth phase of the entire non-commissioned officer school, of which 353 were from their own country, and 22 were Thai students, while there were only 4 Chinese students in the same period. Zhang Xiaozhun and Cai Yi. And their classmates in the same period, Sadao Araki, Shizaburo Mazasaki, Kuniaki Koiso, Shigeru Honjo, Ishine Matsui, and Nobuyuki Abe, these elites of the future generation of the army were all defeated by the hands of the three, and this result embarrassed the military circles who were presenting them with awards at that time. At this point, the non-commissioned officer school of the army has changed the teaching process again, stipulating that foreign students in the future must teach separately from the students, so as to prevent the same scene from happening again......

"Zhiquan, these students are all good seedlings, give me a good training ......for them," Chen Zeyu said with a sigh looking at several "historical celebrities" who were in the 100-meter rifle kneeling shooting competition at the shooting training ground.

Duan Qirui seemed to understand what Chen Zeyu meant, and nodded slowly, "I am determined to live up to the trust of the head of state." ”

On the martial arts arena watching the school's military competition, Chen Zeyu looked at the faces of these young students who were still a little immature with a calm face, and no one knew what kind of fiery and excited mood was under his cold face.

At this time, many students who were competing for the exam also knew the news of Chen Zeyu's arrival, and they all tried their best on the field, and no one wanted to fall behind in front of him, the head of the republic.

Under Chen Zeyu's attention, Xu Shuzheng, Jiang Baili and others on the martial arts field all played well, among which Cai Ye won the third place in 100-meter rifle shooting and the fourth place in repairing weapons; Xu Shuzheng won the second place in riding and the first place in the 150-meter shooting; Jiang Baili won the top three in many items such as riding, assassination, surveying and mapping, and map work, and passed the military competition with all A-class and the fourth place in the overall score.

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