Once again, the eyes of the world turned to Yanjing, the last time was in 1900, because Yanjing, as the capital of the Great Qing Dynasty, was attacked by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and the Eight Nations implemented partition occupation in Yanjing, so the press paid attention to this divided capital and the future of the largest empire in Asia.

And this time, the reason why they pay attention to this place is only because, in the capital, there will be a "greatest adventure" in history, in the pen of those journalists, this is almost no less than Columbus's expedition, Magellan's world, for the world "the greatest car adventure in history 1902 Yenching to Paris!" Perhaps this will be the last great adventure of the twentieth century for mankind to conquer regions other than Antarctica! ”

The challenge was praised in exaggerated terms by the media, and the organizers, the Automobile Federation of Paris, took it very seriously, hoping to establish the technological superiority of the car over the horse-drawn carriage and to promote the adventurous spirit of the era. But this did not prevent the media from constantly fueling the flames, the staggering amount of prize money, the poor traffic conditions, the poor natural environment, the unknown risks of the journey, in short, they praised the feat with all the exaggerated words, stirring up people's enthusiasm for the game, but it had an unexpected effect.

Cruise ships from the United States and Europe have transported 563 cars and 1,156 drivers, after assembling in Tianjin, after the British and French, American, Italian, Russian ministers and Qing Zheng axe negotiated, the restricted vehicles were increased to 600, 1,200 drivers, 578 cars, in front of the capital in front of the Eight Banners of the principal assembled, people waited for the arrival of the last day.

"All participating cars, only for those sold in the market! The purpose of this competition is to determine the technical superiority of the car over the horse-drawn carriage, not through special special models, and not for the purpose of serving the public! ”

Despite the efforts of the Paris Motor Federation, in the end, "production models sold in the market" still became a restriction clause for the competition, and the participating models could only be modified with simple off-road surnames, and the rush of time did not give those drivers enough time to prepare.

In the face of the approaching departure date, people's ambition and courage are also in the test run between Yanjing and Tianjin, in the face of the road environment full of puddles and bottomless potholes, nearly 100 cars broke down halfway, and the once ambitious contestants began to retreat. In the end, on August 10, 1902, at the departure ceremony held in Yanjing, only 772 brave drivers and 385 cars remained.

As soon as the sun climbed into the diamond-clear sky, one could already feel the heat that was about to be released from the day. In another hour or so, the weather will be as hot as a fire.

A few decades ago, it was destroyed in the Old Summer Palace Eight Banners of the British and French Allied Army, the national flags of various countries fluttered, and the outside of the school field was crowded with people watching the excitement, and on the wooden platform in the school field, the ministers and ministers of various countries, the ministers and wives of various countries, the officers and wives of the troops stationed in Beijing and Tianjin, the decent foreigners, and the officials of the imperial court, all sat there with different expressions looking at the cars lined up in the school field.

This may be the biggest event in the history of the automobile industry, since the invention of the automobile, there has never been such a large number of cars concentrated in any place, the magnesium fireworks of the camera are constantly flashing in this school field, and reporters from Europe and the United States even used movie cameras to record the largest car event in the history of the school field.

In the crowded school yard, there was a row of sixteen black cars, also crowded with guests from all over the world, and the ladies in the crowd often showed strange smiles when they walked up to the cars and looked at the simple cars. With black all over, large wheels, a high chassis above the ground, no odometer, no fuel gauge, not even a windshield, this car is a bit too basic.

However, the chrome Pegasus logo glittering in the sun with the blue, yellow and red emblem on the front of the car attracts attention, and if you are on the road, you can see the chrome front of the car from a few hundred meters away, and the thin bar grille allows the galloping horse to "float" on the chrome rectangular frame. These foreigners clearly prefer this logo to a humble car.

"Captain Liu, what are these foreign ghosts talking about, I'm afraid it's not a good thing!"

Ouyang Tian, who was checking the engine, listened to the chatter of foreign words, and asked Liu Zhongxia, who was staying in the shade and sipping tea, he was the captain of the team, and he heard that this car rally was what he meant. It took a full hour to inspect the Mustang cart, and while inspecting the car, it did not prevent him from talking to the captain.

"Don't listen to them, just fart what they say! Concentrate on checking your car! Waited for the road......"

Liu Zhongxia said rudely, but with a smile on his face, in the test race, he carefully ordered the entire team to maintain an intermediate level, anyway, it was just a test drive, there was no need to show the limelight.

The reason why he would confess Ouyang Tian like this was just because he was a little nervous, although this Mustang car even specially modified some designs for this pull and made improvements on the basis of the production car, Liu Zhongxia still didn't dare to be careless, and he had to be cautious step by step. Mustang carts must be foolproof. No matter how powerful the cars drove by the foreigners, he believed they were no match for the Mustang cars, but who knows?

The car rally is the best opportunity for car manufacturers to show their product name, and through the competition, it will help manufacturers to further improve the manufacturing process of car structure, engine, chassis, brakes, tires, lighting equipment and other components, but for the Mustang, it is necessary to rely on this competition to open its name in Europe.

"It's better to say it 10,000 times than to win an unprecedented car rally!"

Liu Zhongxia remembered that he had spoken to the chairman after the successful test drive, and today this car rally is finally about to start.

According to the route arrangement out of Yanjing to the south, through Baoding, across the Yellow River into Henan, through Tongguan, into Shaanxi, through Gansu into Xinjiang Province, then the steppe governorate, across the Russian Empire, Germany, and then to Paris. In the next few decades, this road will be covered with a variety of primitive roads, with unknown road conditions and a large geographical span, which will not only challenge the harsh natural environment. Even if you close your eyes, you can imagine that this will be a very challenging super long journey. Many of the areas you pass through on the way are still in pristine terrain and it's easy to get lost.

"Luckily, there are telephone poles along the way, which can be used to identify directions!"

Thinking about the route in his mind repeatedly, Liu Zhongxia couldn't help but be a little lucky that the long-distance telegraph line from Yanjing to Moscow along the way, and the telegraph stations at intervals along the way were the best resting places for the convoy.

"It's like a wild horse!"

The French spit out from the mouth of the noble lady standing in front of the car and staring at the front sign entered Liu Zhongxia's ears word for word, and he couldn't help but be happy, so he took the lady's words.

"Madame, like you said, every part of this Mustang car has been carefully designed to fit the mountain and dirt roads that extend around the world! It can pass through rocky and muddy roads like stilts. ”

In the lady's astonishment, Liu Zhongxia said in French with a Parisian accent.

"Although it will be bumpy like any other car, it is because it only has skeletal muscle and no fat that Mustang has. But as soon as it hits the road, it will show its magical powers, and no kind of danger can stop it! ”

Liu Zhongxia, who jumped out of the car, stood in front of the blonde lady with an umbrella, made a gentlemanly salute and continued.

"Although the Mustang car has certain surnames that are unique to the Mustang car, it also has the bravery of a hunting dog and the endurance of a camel."

Liu Zhongxia suddenly blinked again, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Madam, if you're interested, I can assure you that buying a Bronco team to win this race will definitely earn you a lot of money! You know, now it's 1:45 odds, and if you go to the Grassland Governorship, maybe the odds will drop to 1:2, or even lower! ”

The middle-aged lady with a flower umbrella was surprised that a pair of beautiful eyes were looking at this fluent French speaking Chinese in surprise, and she suddenly laughed, but her smile was warm and natural, without any contempt.

"Sir, are you so confident?"

And the Frenchman next to the noble lady looked at this confident Chinese with the same curiosity.

"Of course, we will definitely win, just yesterday, I have asked people to buy 2,000 taels in the Tianjin Concession! My team will win this race, there's no doubt about it! ”

Liu Zhongxia patted his chest and said confidently that this car race not only caused a sensation in Europe, but also in China, and the gambling stalls opened by foreigners in the Tianjin concession had the highest odds of the "Mustang team" from Shanghai, and no one believed that a car made by Chinese could win this race.

"Sir, you know, that gentleman also participated in this contest!"

Bi Sheng's hand pointed to an Italian flag not far away, and the Italians were enjoying the roses and handkerchiefs of the reporters and the women.

"Spion? Is Prince Burgess really? ”

Looking in the direction of his finger, Liu Zhongxia smiled slightly, and then shrugged again.

"There is never a distinction between a prince and a commoner in a sporting event, and it is the same in this game!"

Spion? Prince Burgess was an Italian driver, he brought the best Sage cars, and the best mechanics, almost everyone believed that he was the final winner, and the Italian Legation in China attached great importance to the arrival of this prince, and specially decided to send an armed guard of ten cavalrymen to escort him to Baoding.

Will he win? Liu Zhongxia really didn't believe that he could win, in the test race from Tianjin to Yanjing, he personally observed his Shijue brand car, although after a special off-road transformation, it can even be disassembled into pieces at any time, once climbing mountains, crossing big rivers, crossing deserts, it can be carried by manpower, but his off-road surname can not be compared with wild horses.

"It seems that your team is doing very well in the test race!"

Bi Sheng said pointedly, as the French minister to China, he was a strong promoter of this race, initially Qing Zheng Axe did not approve this route through the hinterland of China, but at the request of the Paris Automobile Federation, he and the ministers of the six countries put forward a "formal request" to Qing Zheng Axe, asking Qing Zheng Axe to accept this route, as the promoter of this race, he has naturally been paying attention to this unprecedented scale of the game, especially after he himself helped this game, after receiving praise in France, even more so.

"Sir, a wild horse is a real wild horse, it looks inconspicuous on the outside, but when it comes to the wild, he will show his true colors!"

Liu Zhongxia pointed to Bi Sheng with the same meaning, saying that "let people score three points" on the domestic line, keep a low profile and wait to go abroad, and then desperately get rid of them, this is the chairman's suggestion, the reason is that he is afraid that those "Manchu officials who are so sensitive that they are almost abnormal" will be afraid of the outstanding performance of the Mustang team, and finally ask them to lose.

"When you get to the Prairie Governor's District, on that prairie, just get rid of them, the 55-horsepower gasoline engine is enough to make the back of the wild horse's ass eat ashes!"

Although the chairman's words are a little rougher, it is indeed the truth, among those cars that participated, except for the Mustang car, the most horsepower was the Shijue car driven by Prince Burgess, but it was only forty horsepower, as for the others, most of them were ten to twenty horsepower, and the smallest was only six horsepower.

In the past ten days, under the pretext of communication, Liu Zhongxia deliberately "investigated" his opponents, except for Prince Burgess's car, other cars could not pose a threat to the Mustang at all.

"I hope so!"

Hearing the meaning of Liu Zhongxia's words, Bi Sheng's brown eyes lit up.

"If you can win this race, then I'll buy a Mustang by then!"

"Then you need to prepare the money first, because ......"

Only halfway through the words, Liu Zhongxia swallowed the words back, and he saw several people walking towards the convoy, starting with a slightly fat figure wearing the official robes of a first-class official - it was Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang. What happened to him!

A few steps away, when Yuan Shikai saw the foreigner who turned around, he was a little surprised, it was the French minister Bi Sheng!

"Minister Bi!"

"Lord Yuan!"

Bi Sheng greeted with a smile, but Liu Zhongxia almost didn't bite his tongue off, this Frenchman is the French Minister Bi Sheng!

"I don't know why Lord Yuan has time to come to this school!"

"Minister Bi can come to cheer for your country's drivers, and Yuan will naturally come here to cheer for my Daqing drivers!"

Yuan Shikai said this, but he took two steps forward, but his face with official authority squeezed out a smile when he saw Liu Zhongxia.

"Liu Zhongxia! Liu Mingxi! ”

"I've seen it! Yuan...... Lord Yuan! ”

Seeing this Lord Yuan shouting his name, Liu Zhongxia hurriedly knelt down and saluted, but Yuan Shikai stretched out his hand to support him.

"No need to be polite, you drivers are the biggest in this school field today, this race can have our Daqing country drivers participate, the official is very happy, your chairman is a person who runs industry and does great things!"

Exempting Liu Zhongxia's salute, Yuan Shikai still said with a smile on his face, not taking Bi Sheng next to him in his eyes, or directly ignoring the French minister.

"This is the Mustang cart!"

While walking to the car to talk, Yuan Shikai also slapped the car body hard, making the steel plate of the body slam.

"The official has ordered someone to buy ten from your Mustang Automobile Factory, although this looks unattractive, but the official wants to come, it may be a showman! You said it wasn't Minister Bi! ”

Yuan Shikai asked rhetorically with his usual giggling tone.

"Ah, yes! Oh, yes! ”

Looking directly at Yuan Shikai's fat face, Bi Sheng nodded helplessly and smiled.

The new governor of Zhili was even more slippery than Li Hongzhang, and looking at his appearance, Bi Sheng knew that this person was just trying to save some face through this Chinese-style arrogance, just like the Chinese-style arrogance he showed in the handover of the Tianjin regime.

And Yuan Shikai's behavior in front of the team made Liu Zhongxia's nervous expression disappear, but Yuan Shikai turned around again and patted Liu Zhongxia's shoulder.

"Mingxi, this official is here to send all the warriors of the Great Qing Kingdom to Europa!"

Between the words, Yuan Shikai deliberately accentuated the last few words.

"You not only have to fight for the face of the Mustang Motor, but also for the Qing Dynasty! This official, I can refer to you to lose the face of our Great Qing Kingdom and earn some back! ”

"Yes! My lord! ”

Liu Zhongxia hurriedly lowered his head and clenched his fists and said, he dared to say it, didn't he? What's more, he was so moved that he almost didn't squeeze out tears.

Yuan Shikai was very satisfied with the captain's grateful, and he patted the body hard, looking at the four big oil drums hanging behind the car, as well as the things contained in the car.

"Mingxi, this car looks like it can hold things!"

"Back to my lord, the wild horse cart is like a wild horse with a load, and the factory test can carry 12.5 quintals with people and goods!"

Listening to his words, Yuan Shikai walked around the car with great interest, but the eyes of the several escort officers who followed him couldn't help but light up at the same time when they heard the 12.5 quintals, and the car was about to catch up with the ocean carriage.

patted the steel plate body with his hand, Yuan Shikai nodded with satisfaction, and then looked back at Liu Zhongxia who was following him.

"Mingxi, I have already instructed someone to send a telegram to your chairman, if you can win this game, the old man will order 600 of your wild horse carriages in the name of the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang!"

"Ahh

Liu Zhongxia obviously didn't expect this Lord Yuan to be so generous, six hundred!

At this time, the bell rang on the school stage, which was the bell that allowed the non-racing drivers and spectators outside the reporters in the field to leave the field, listening to this bell, Yuan Shikai just smiled and said.

"Do a good job and earn back the face we lost!" Then he walked straight to the stands.

Ten minutes later, as the soldiers of the eleven countries fired into the sky, Prince Burgess's Sage car, which was in the lead, was the first to leave the Eight Flags school field amid the cheers of the people, and what awaited these drivers would be 10,000 miles and countless challenges.

When the Mustang convoy flying the flag of the Qing Dynasty drove away from the school field, the cheers outside the school field were louder, and there were cheers and shouts everywhere, which was the cheers of the onlookers of the Chinese people.

(To be continued)