Beijing-Shanghai Railway, this railway from 1897, the opening of the construction of the railway from Wusong to Jiangning, and then to the British to ask for the right of way, before and after eight years, the railway was not completed.

In September 4602, after the end of the right-of-way meeting, the construction of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, which was the priority main road, was first started, and the 311-kilometer-long Beijing-Shanghai Railway, unless it was divided into four sections of Shanghai-Suzhou, Suzhou-Changzhou, Changzhou-Zhenjiang, and Zhenjiang-Nanjing according to the plan, was divided into several sections at the same time in order to speed up the construction period.

"The Beijing-Shanghai Railway will be built in 120 days!"

As a gift to the founding of the empire, in the end, inspired by this slogan, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway has become a miracle in the history of world railway engineering, and the 311-kilometer Beijing-Shanghai Railway was completed and opened to traffic before His Majesty ascended the throne.

In the face of this miraculous speed, some European and American railway experts even said in a slightly sour tone. "The railway built by the Chinese in four months may not be up to standard in terms of quality, but it means that the Chinese have made progress in engineering technology."

Railway engineering experts in Europe and the United States even find fault with all kinds of faults, such as hundreds of steel structure railway bridges along the length, a large number of unverified welding instead of riveting process, which is simply a compromise made in order to catch up with the construction period, and is a substandard engineering model.

But the railway engineers who participated in the design and construction clearly did not agree with their peers, who saw the adoption of welded bridges as more of a technological advance, at their strong demand. And after a month-long inspection and acceptance by the acceptance expert group of the Ministry of Communications, it was determined that the railway, which had created a miraculous construction speed, met the construction standards, and the steel welded railway bridge was regarded by these European and American experts as a progress in engineering technology, and its life and sturdiness were not inferior to that of riveted bridges.

Thanks to the extensive reports of the newspapers, people know that the premise of the miraculous construction speed is that as many as 40 construction sections and 60 bridges, two-way construction at the same time, more than 50,000 construction workers from more than 10 provinces and six engineering regiments work in three shifts every night, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, the first batch of more than 2,000 trucks and special engineering vehicles produced by Tianma Automobile Company will give priority to the Beijing-Shanghai railway construction site.

In addition to the production of Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Company, 10,000 tons of rails and steel components were purchased from Hubei Daye, and trucks and the convenient waterway network in the south of the Yangtze River directly transported the rails and sleepers to each construction section to ensure the progress of the project.

Of course, when the newspapers reported the "Beijing-Shanghai Railway" as a miracle "proof of the industrial development of the empire", few newspapers mentioned it. During the construction process, there were several construction sections that were not aligned due to lack of experience, and were forced to rework for tens of kilometers.

However, the experience and lessons learned in the construction of this railway have given the Ministry of Communications and the engineering troops enough experience to build other trunk railways, and China needs to build as many railways as possible in the shortest possible time in order to establish a national railway transportation network in the short term.

Outside the train window, night has fallen. It was a gloomy, dark, damp night with the characteristic spring air of the south of the Yangtze River, and on the Beijing-Shanghai railway line, the train traveled at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour, which is the highest speed, speed and carrying capacity of the Asian railway, and is also the best evidence of the construction quality of the Beijing-Shanghai railway.

In the twenty-third class of the luxurious sleeper carriage, the carriage was lit up, and in the luxuriously decorated carriage, the only passenger was an old man who looked old and had a white beard, and he did not like strong lights, so less than a quarter of the lights were lit in the carriage. Over the years, as he grew older, he became very sensitive to bright lights, which is why he ordered people to put out those lights.

Outside the luxurious compartment of the sleeper compartment, several young people stood at opposite ends of the carriage, and the only passenger in the compartment was the famous Hirobumi Ito. At this time, he stared gloomily at the bright lights flickering by the station outside the window, and on both sides of the railway, the factories that were in operation or under construction flashed yellow spots.

As the train arrives, look at the modern oriental-style train station. Ito Hirobumi can directly feel that China is changing rapidly, just like Pudong, Nanjing, and these Chinese-style buildings that integrate Western architecture and engineering, China has chosen another path of Westernization, learning from the West without abandoning its own civilization, and now, he has shown the power of the October Revolution.

On the battlefield!

When the train was approaching the Suzhou Railway Station, when the accustomed surname looked towards the Suzhou Concession, Ito Hirofumi's brows furrowed, saying that the concessions set up in Shanghai, Tianjin, Hankou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yucheng in China have been stationed by the Chinese [***] police in the past few days, and the concession has been abolished by them, which is the fruit of victory that Ito Hirobumi forced Li Hongzhang to get, and now? All lost.

"Hey!"

With a long sigh, Ito shook his head, as if to shake off the burden of the past and dispel those painful thoughts. But there were so many painful thoughts. The most frustrating thing was the danger of the imminent annihilation of the Yalu River Army.

The Yalu River Army, in which China is about to completely annihilate the Yalu River Army, has put forward the most direct challenge to Yueben. And the Yalu River Army is a warning: please get out of China, now this place is not yours, this place is blocked, otherwise the Yalu River Army will be your end.

On the way to the railway station, Ito saw a parade of millions of people carrying lanterns in Shanghai and the Yalu River Army ...... If the Yalu River Army is completely wiped out, then how can I explain these things to the people? Is it possible for them to accept such a humiliating truce?

What will the angry citizens do then?

Almost as soon as China launched an attack on Yuben, Britain, France, and the United States all said within two days that they would never accept the expansion of the war to China's Guannai and the Yangtze River, and they demanded that Yuben exercise restraint, which was necessary for him.

But now, in the book, it is understood that "under the pressure of Britain and the United States, the book gave up declaring war on China!" Because they threatened that if they declared war on China, they would never be able to borrow money again to carry on the war! ”

When he came to China, in the face of the Chinese's undeclared war, the angry people gathered at Hibiya Park in Tokyo to hold a national convention and demand that the empire immediately declare war on China. In the eyes of the angry people, the reason why the empire did not declare war on China was simply the work of Britain and the United States. Attendees clashed with the police, and the public violently attacked the prime minister's residence near the park, and if the police had not stopped it in time, the demonstrators might have even stormed foreign embassies.

"They know that from the very beginning, they have fallen into the trap of the Chinese!"

Thinking of the ignorance of the people, Iten Hirobumi sighed helplessly, saying that he must face China with a clear mind, especially the emperor of China, this is the answer that Ito Hirobumi came up with after studying the emperor after the outbreak of this war.

The tariff incident, in the name of cooperating with the Yue army, induced Yue Ben to agree to the introduction of additional taxes, thus breaking the unanimity of the powers, and finally quickly abandoned Yue Ben, who gave him too much help, became the target of public criticism.

"Now it seems that the so-called "Zhongzhi Ti" is nothing more than empty words, and since China's liberation, they have undoubtedly taken actions in accordance with someone's pre-designated goal."

Sighing, Ito leaned back against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes...... Now, he is in a dilemma: on the one hand, from the domestic reality, it is impossible to declare war on China, and without money, it is impossible to carry on the war; On the other hand, from the reality of the Manchurian battlefield, the Chinese are attacking the Yalu River Army with all their might, although no more news has come, but it seems that it is only a matter of time before the Chinese [***] team completely annihilates the Yalu River Army.

And now?

The Emperor and Katsura Taro left the mess to him, so where should he go?

It was here, on the way to Nanjing, that Hirobumi Ito couldn't help but think of a person, a person who died four years ago, Li Hongzhang!

Now, Ito Hirobumi finally understands the bitterness and helplessness in Li Hongzhang's heart.

Thinking of Li Hongzhang, who had already died, and recalling his aggressive attitude towards him in Maguan, Ito Hirofumi, who opened his eyes, sighed heavily.

"Li Xiang, this is really ten years in Hedong, ten years in Hexi!"

Thinking to himself, after the success of this conspiracy, Ito Hirobumi knew that the future China would become the biggest potential enemy of Yuben in ten years.

Suddenly, the sound of clattering leather shoes sounded in the corridor of the carriage, which was the reception staff sent by the Chinese side. A few seconds later, someone knocked softly on the door of the carriage.

Beside Fujimura, there stood an Imperial Secret Service worker, his movements polite, but his expression was a little cold.

"Your Excellency, the train will enter Nanjing Station in half an hour, and according to the arrangement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you will leave the station directly from Platform 6 half an hour after the train enters the station!"

As he spoke, there was no expression on his grim face, and from his eyes, Ito could see that this man did not care about his identity, and perhaps for him, he was just a task for him.

Looking at the man who had left again, Fujimura spoke first.

"Your Excellency, do you say, are all the [***] people like him?"

Fujimura, who was born in the military, saw that the man was a soldier, at least once a soldier.

"Like him?"

Ito Hirobumi groaned in his heart, and then looked out the window, outside the car was a dark night, which was occasionally cut by a lone light somewhere.

Faced with this situation, Ito Hirobumi felt infinite melancholy...... If they were all like him, it would have been impossible for Ben to win this war!

(To be continued)