After entering 1869, the external environment of the empire ushered in a relatively rare period of peace.

In the Siberian direction, after the Imperial Navy and Army jointly conquered the port of Bide in Kamchatka, the Imperial Navy and Army launched an offensive against the coastal strongholds of Russia on the west coast of the North Pacific, such as Ayan and Okhotsk.

Since the empire took control of the Heilongjiang River valley, Russia has been unable to reinforce these coastal cities by river or sea, and it is very difficult to supply them by long overland routes, and the distance is very long.

Under these circumstances, the empire successively conquered many Russian strongholds on the west coast of the North Pacific, such as Ayang.

In the autumn of 1868, the Imperial Navy and Army launched a final offensive against the last coastal stronghold of the Russian army, Novomarinsk (Anadyr), near the Arctic Ocean, before the onset of winter, and successfully captured the city.

The loss of Novomarinsk announced that Russia had lost its last outlet to the Pacific Ocean and could no longer compete with the empire on the Pacific coast.

The Imperial Army, under the cover of the Navy's fleet of river gunboats, advanced westward along the Heilongjiang River, and was already stationed near Kokui, and if it continued to the west, it would be Nebuchu.

It's just that as the westward march progresses, the supply line becomes longer and longer, and the winter in these northern regions is very long, and once the winter comes, it will have a very serious impact on the mobility and logistics of the troops. In addition, the Russians did not fail to resist, along the river of Heilongjiang. The Russians were able to gather all the forces they could muster, and it is rumored that the Russians were near Chita, an important town in the Far East. At least 20,000 troops, including Nebuchu, have been assembled in this area.

According to the intelligence collected by diplomats from Europe, the Russians were furious at the loss of the ports on the Pacific coast, and many high-ranking officials and high-ranking generals had already lost their official hats for this, and now the Russian army has gathered forces from the Far East and the Mongolian steppe.

Under these circumstances, it was very difficult for the empire to continue its westward expansion.

Therefore, after marching to Kokui, the military also stopped continuing its westward advance.

The Empire stopped its large-scale westward offensive, which naturally meant that the situation in the north had returned to calm.

Russia and the Imperial Central Asia, the Utai steppe, and other directions continue to maintain a situation of confrontation, and it is estimated that they will not be able to fight any large-scale battles for a while and a half.

Except in the north and northwest directions. No war broke out in other directions of the empire, and the situation in Burma in the southwest, although chaotic for a time, was finally smooth.

There was no war outside, and there was no revolutionaries or anything like that inside, so the empire ushered in a very difficult period of peaceful and stable development.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Zhe also plans to do something inspiring to collectively knight some officials with outstanding political achievements and generals with outstanding military achievements in the past few years.

Therefore, in May, Nanjing also began to appear many officials and high-ranking generals who were away all year round.

May 18, Nanjing Railway Station. Chen Yuechuan, who was dressed in military uniform, walked off the train platform, and then walked out of the train station with his entourage. The square is full of people coming and going.

"I didn't expect that I haven't come back for a few years, this Jingshi has changed so much!" Chen Yuechuan still remembers that when he left Nanjing two years ago, the railway station had already been picked up and officially operated. But there are not so many buildings and people around, but it is empty.

Song Liuzhang, a friend who came to greet him, said: "You don't know that you are opening up the territory for the empire in the Northern Cold Land. The changes in Jingshi in the past two years are so great that it is unbelievable! ”

Chen Yuechuan smiled: "Hmm." Just like Brother Song, you have changed a lot, you must have benefited a lot from your tenure in Jingshi! ”

"I can compare with you there, I can only be honest in the past few years, a major general who was promoted a few years ago, and you were a major general before you went to Northern Xinjiang, and I am afraid that a lieutenant general will also be in hand when I come back this time!" Song Liuzhang smiled wryly.

He and Chen Yuechuan are friends in the same class, and in his previous service career, his career is even better than Chen Yuechuan, but since the two were promoted to school officers, he Song Liuzhang has served in the staff department for a long time, and has successively served as the chief of staff of the division, and then transferred to the general headquarters, and then climbed back and forth in several divisions of the war department.

Although he admired his talent as a staff officer and was promoted quickly, he had not served as the chief officer of a field unit for several years, and this was a great regret for him.

On the other hand, Chen Yuechuan, he has been staying in the field army, although according to the convention, serving in the field army, the promotion speed will not be too fast, but there is also an opportunity to serve in the military department, that is, once in the war, if you make military achievements, it is not a problem to be promoted.

Chen Yuechuan worked in Northern Xinjiang for several years, that is, he was promoted to the post of major general, and then he urgently needed to serve in Northern Xinjiang, commanded the battle to conquer the port of Bide, the port of Xinma (Novomarinsk, Anadyr), and before returning to China, he had been promoted to the 'commander of the garrison of Xindong Province'.

Xindong Province was established as a newly occupied province on the western Pacific coast north of Heilongjiang Province after the empire conquered Xinma Port.

The jurisdiction of the province included the area north of the Transkhingan Mountains in the Khabarovsk Frontier of later Russia, the Magadan Oblast, the Kamchatka California, and parts of the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

Of course, this may sound like a large local area, but in reality the empire's control area is not so large, and the empire's control in these areas is mainly the coastal cities and strongholds, such as Ayan, Okhotsk, Magadan, Bide Port, Xinma Port, etc.

Most of the rest of the interior is actually deserted, and some of the places where people live are still under Russian control.

The province, which was established in 1868, has just under 30,000 inhabitants, mostly Russians and a small number of Chinese immigrants. And these Chinese are mainly fishermen who come to engage in fishing or merchants who come to buy goods, except for civilians. It's the soldiers scattered in the coastal strongholds.

Therefore, although the province is called a province, it is not considered a regular administrative district. Rather, it is a military region, and its chief executive is not a civilian official, but a garrison commander.

Speaking of which, this Chen Yuechuan and Song Liuzhang are envious of each other, Song Liuzhang envies Chen Yuechuan for having battles to fight and can make military achievements, why did Chen Yuechuan return to China this time, isn't it because of his outstanding military merits, so he was specially recalled to Beijing?

And what are you doing back to Beijing? Naturally, it is a promotion and knighthood!

On the other hand, Chen Yuechuan is also envious of Song Liuzhang, this Song Liuzhang has served in the General Headquarters for a long time, and he also serves in the most important department of the army, the War Department.

In addition, he has served in such an organization as the War Department for a long time, and the work he has engaged in is the affairs of the overall situation, and he is concerned with the development of the whole army and the strategic situation of the whole country. This vision is naturally incomparable to himself.

And this kind of overall view is very important for the later development of generals, because when you are a major general, you only need to fight a good battle, but when it comes to lieutenant generals or even generals. In many cases, it is no longer important whether the ability to command a war is strong or not, but what is important is the control of the overall situation.

And this aspect is what Chen Yuechuan does not have.

So these two people are envious of each other. You say a word, I say a word. They came to the edge of the square, and then the two got into the carriage. Escorted by the guards, the entry into the inner city began.

After getting into the carriage, Chen Yuechuan was talking to Song Liuzhang while looking out through the window of the carriage.

After watching this for a long time, he sighed: "There are a lot more people on this street, and I remember that this area used to be an empty space, but I didn't expect that now there are many shops!" ”

"Yes, the development of Jingshi in the past few years has been too fast, and I don't know the way when I go to see it every few months!" Song Liuzhang also sighed, he is a person who lives in Beijing all the year round, originally if he stays here all the year round, he should not be amazed by the development of the city subtly.

But in recent years, the development of Nanjing City has been too fast, not only outsiders are amazed after arriving at the Beijing Division, but even he, a person who lives in Beijing all the year round, sometimes sighs, so that Beijing is a change every year.

The Chinese Empire officially established Nanjing as its capital in 1857, and Nanjing entered an unusual path of development.

First of all, in terms of population, when the Chinese army conquered Nanjing, there were only 100,000 people left in the huge city of Nanjing, and most of them were old, weak, women and children, and the whole city was full of dilapidation.

After the Chinese army entered the city, the proportion of the population in the city changed, first a large number of soldiers, and then various officials and their families.

By 1860, the city's population had recovered to 300,000, but more than half of these 300,000 were soldiers, state employees and their families.

As the capital of the empire, Nanjing's own local fiscal revenue is not much, but it has the support of the central government, so the infrastructure is basically in the forefront of the country.

At the beginning of the capital, due to the dilapidated nature of Nanjing, many houses were either burned down or turned into a pile of rubble, and many houses lost their owners, so the empire re-planned the city of Nanjing at that time.

Re-excavate and lay drainage canals, those roads are too small, directly tear down the houses on both sides, and then widen the road.

It turns out that demolishing a house is much more efficient than building a house.

After more than ten years of construction, the current Nanjing has been completely different from the Nanjing more than ten years ago, this difference is not reflected in business, in fact, Nanjing's industrial and commercial economic development has always been more embarrassing.

Because there is a Wuhu Industrial Zone next to it, which is the core industrial base of the empire, where steel and machinery are located, and Nanjing used to be Shanghai, and Shanghai's advantages in all aspects are needless to say.

In addition, Nanjing is a Beijing division, and for the sake of the city's aesthetic development, local governments are often reluctant to accept some unstable industries. For example, those labor-intensive enterprises are excluded by Nanjing, and they are basically not allowed to be opened in the urban area.

There are few factories. This is a distinctive feature of the city of Nanjing!

There are many factories and the number of people is not large. At present, there are only about 300,000 people in Nanjing, while Shanghai has already exceeded one million and wants to move towards two million, and even in order to solve the problems of large population, crowded cities, and not much land available for development, the Shanghai Municipal Government is now actively seeking to expand the area of Shanghai and want to annex the entire Songjiang Prefecture.

And this move was also supported by the collective support of the whole Songjiang Prefecture, and even the Taicang Prefecture next door wanted to include itself in Shanghai's expansion map. Because once you become a part of Shanghai, it will bring a very considerable change to the income of the local people.

In this regard, the cabinet is also studying and discussing, and it is expected to be determined in the second half of this year.

Nanjing's population is small and, to some extent, it is a typical consumer city, where the main group of residents in the city is not workers and other contacts, but military and political personnel and their families.

Therefore, Nanjing's main commercial economy is dominated by the tertiary industry!

After Chen Yuechuan and Song Liuzhang arrived at the army guest house, Song Liuzhang said goodbye.

Chen Yuechuan does not have a residence in Nanjing. Because he served in the north all the year round, he took his wife and children to the north a few years ago, and at first he lived in Shenyang, and then he stayed in Xindong Province all the year round. That northern cold land was not a good place to settle down, so he simply sent his wife and children back to his hometown.

In the army guest house, Chen Yuechuan also met some army colleagues who also rushed back from outside. Seeing this, it is inevitable to negotiate.

In the evening, he attended a drinking party with Song Liuzhang and a few other friends. Those who came were all colleagues from the army, and most of the military ranks were below the rank of major general. After all, those lieutenant generals and even generals, their circle of friends is not the same as them, and they naturally can't talk together when they drink and chat.

At the cocktail party, Chen Yuechuan mainly focused on broadening his contacts, and knew everyone he could know, and others knew that he was going to continue to rise when he came back this time, so they were quite polite to him.

After the party, it was a little different, a few young officers were drunk, and then I don't know who found a group of young girls to come over, these officers who usually regarded themselves as Confucian generals naturally inevitably had some bad habits of literati, and began to hug Qingqing and me.

Chen Yuechuan saw this, so he had no interest in continuing to stay, he was different from those young school officers, he was also a major general, and he was also a senior general in the military, so naturally he couldn't mess around with those half-grown children, if he made a fuss, those young school officers would be said a word or two 'ridiculous' at most. But he Chen Yuechuan's words are probably going to dissatisfy those bigwigs who appreciate him.

Although there were no explicit regulations, within the empire, both in office and politics, there were great moral requirements for officers and officials.

For example, although the current empire has been reformed for many years, some Confucian traditions are still very deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, such as filial piety, whether it is ordinary people or those military and political bigwigs, must be careful to avoid things, a few years ago, the new political envoy of Zhejiang Province because of the divorce with the bad wife, and then married a young and beautiful woman, which caused Shilin's public opinion, and finally he had to hand in his resignation to Lin Zhe.

And Lin Zhe simply approved the quasi-word, and did not say that the resignation of other officials would be retained again and again before it was approved.

In terms of officers, if the officer does not get married for a long time and remains single, the military will think that you lack family values, lack of filial piety and other morals, why? Because there are three unfilial pieties, no queen is the greatest, you don't get married and have children, you can't even do filial piety, what is the allegiance to Your Majesty?

At the same time, if you cheat, these are also, and your infidelity to your marriage will directly affect Shangguan's impression of you.

Although there are no clear provisions on the moral requirements for military and political personnel, in fact they have always existed and are very serious.

Chen Yuechuan didn't want those army bigwigs to learn about fooling around with the woman the next day.

On the way back, the night wind blew, which also made his drunken and somewhat confused head slightly sober, and his mind began to think about how to report to His Majesty tomorrow.

Chen Yuechuan returned to Beijing this time, and like all senior military and political dignitaries, he naturally had to report to His Majesty, and this kind of debriefing was also the only opportunity for many military and political dignitaries who had served in other places all the year round to meet Lin Zhe, so many people were very loyal.

Chen Yuechuan was no exception, he didn't go there the next day, but had a good rest, and early in the morning of the third day, he wore a full set of general's dresses, and then went to Xinhua Palace. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for the 'different purity' helmsman and many other people's tips and support! It is because of you that I can keep writing on rainy days!