Chapter 164 The southwest wind rises again

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Chen Haohui wore the common horse gang clothes in the Qiangui area, and rode on a short Yunnan horse with a dozen partners, and did not seem to see the crooked mountain road in front of him, concentrating on rubbing the Minyuan-style pistol, this kind of high-power pistol has become the standard equipment of the military and people like them, but no one likes the self-made pistol made in Hanyang ().

After bypassing a hill, the fields are lush and green, but after looking closely, everyone is disgusted with it, because in front of them is actually a field of poppies that are about to bloom, and the long flower poles sway with the mountain wind, creating beauty and magnificence and poisoning the country at the same time! What's more, according to several agricultural and forestry experts who have been in charge of the opium poppy, the opium poppy fields have not been able to grow other crops for several years, which shows the magnitude of the damage.

Fang Rui was a partner in the Changsha mission with Chen Haohui, and he was considered a veteran member of the newly formed intelligence department, and when he saw the poppies all over the hillside, he said in disgust: "***, no wonder everyone thinks that Guizhou is troublesome, how many people will be killed by so much opium?" The Fifth Division doesn't know what they're doing, what the hell are you doing with such a large area of poppies and not eradicating them? ”

Chen Haohui was much calmer than him, squinted his eyes and said, "How can it be as simple as you think, do you know how many people in Qiandian Gui make a living by planting this thing?" The land here is barren, the peasants are already living a difficult life, and the cultivation of opium has become their entire income. Moreover, the people here are fierce, and many people have been half-peasants and half-bandits for generations, and the drug is too fierce and not conducive to long-term peace and stability (). ”

"Can't we just watch this opium flow into our three provinces?" Several team members next to him came around, looking a little excited and hating to do it themselves, they are all professionally trained, and they are the most loyal soldiers, so they hate the poisonous legacy very much.

"How can this be done, opium must be eradicated! However, it is also necessary to take into account the local situation, when the Fifth Division entered Guizhou, opium seeds had already been sown, and as soon as the peasants started, they did not harvest anything in the first half of the year. Therefore, the commander ordered that when the opium was ripe in August, all of it would be taken back at a low price, and then let them switch to tobacco and sugar cane, and also prepare to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry so that the people would have a way to live. ”

Fang Rui was puzzled and asked, "Why do you collect opium?" What about August? Could it be that the commander wants to do a big tobacco business? ”

"! When did the Commander do such a dirty thing?! Chen Haohui said solemnly: "In August, first, we can't delay the farmers' harvest in the first half of the year, no matter how bad the opium planting is, after all, they are also for the sake of the family's livelihood, only those who sell and encourage planting should be killed!" Second, the newly built Chongqing fertilizer plant will not produce the first batch of chemical fertilizer until August, and at that time, it will be able to transfer fertile land from Guizhou to solve the problem of barren land after opium cultivation. Third, when we wait until August, the National Guard will be able to pull out the work and clean up one township after another, so as not to let any fish slip through the net. As for the commander recovering opium, he did not waste the money and take it back as firewood, but prepared to refine medicine and sell it. ”

"Opium can also be used to make medicine?" One of the team members was a little curious and asked, "Why haven't I heard of it?" ”

"You put more of your mind on studying, and less sleep with your daughter-in-law." Chen Haohui patted the head of the team members, causing everyone to laugh before saying: "The morphine used in the army is refined from this thing, and Minister Zhang also said several other medicines, I didn't remember so much at once." However, after refining the medicine, we can not only use it for ourselves, but also sell it to foreigners to make a lot of money. ”

After hearing this, Fang Rui sighed with emotion: "The commander is really well-intentioned. ”

Chen Haohui agreed: "Yes, if those officials in other provinces have our commander who thinks about the people and the country like this, how can they be in such a mess ()." After he finished speaking, he shook his horse's head and continued south: "Let's go." It's not far from Guangxi, and if we get things done as soon as possible, we can also save snacks. ”

Fang Rui pointed to the west and said, "After the Qingshui River, it is the Fifth Division Theater, why don't we go over and have a look?" ”

"Don't look at it, we don't do the work of charging and fighting now." Chen Haohui waved his hand: "Besides, 10,000% may still reveal your identity, let's go." ”

As the horse's hooves moved towards Guangxi, there was a coughing sound in the Kunming Governor's Mansion in Yunnan.

Cai Yi's health has always been bad, especially after the defeat of the competition for Guiyang, the old cough has become a lot worse, which makes Huang Yuying very worried, and now he can hold it down in Yunnan alone, if something happens to him, it will be over.

After rinsing his mouth with water, Cai Yi's face was a little better, and he wanted to continue reading, but after picking it up, he sighed or put it down, turned his head to look at Han Jianduo and Huang Yuying beside him, and asked, "Jianduo, Zihe." Are you wrong to say that I sent Tang Jiyao and Liu Cunhou into Guizhou? ”

"Don't worry too much about the governor, it's been more than a month since the fight, Yang Qiu's troops in Guizhou are not elite, and the two of them should be able to block it." Han Jianduo was an officer trained by Yunnan Jiangwutang itself, and he was also one of Cai Yi's students, and was appointed as the chief of military affairs after Chongjiu. After hearing this, he thought he was worried about the war in Guizhou, but Huang Yuying heard the voice outside the strings and said: "They are now rampant in southwest Guizhou, and I heard that they are openly smuggling opium, which has caused public resentment to boil. ”

This sentence made Han Jianduo's eyebrows twist together, he is actually very clear about the recent things in Guizhou, Tang Jiyao and Liu Cunhou led their troops into Guizhou and did nothing wrong, not only wantonly recruiting troops to expand their strength, but also pulling in many bandits and bullies, in order to raise military funds, they also openly smuggled opium and robbed rich businessmen, and what they did was not at all like what they did at the beginning. Moreover, Tang Jiyao also openly proclaimed himself the governor of Guizhou, and Liu Cunhou appointed himself as the commander-in-chief of the Guizhou army, and in a short period of time, the two had gathered more than 20,000 miscellaneous troops, and in order to stabilize Siye, they also wantonly slaughtered those who refused to accept in the southwest of Guizhou, and it is said that thousands of people have died.

After these news came back, Huang Yuying even publicly said that he would punish the two, and also recruited a group of party officers, if it weren't for Yang Qiu's continuous increase of troops to Guizhou, which would have seriously threatened the safety of Yunnan, maybe he would have led troops into Guizhou to say that he would have gone (). But when it came to punishing the two, Han Jianduo disagreed: "Zihe said too much, how can there be immortals in war?" What's more, Tang Jiyao is also for the safety of our Yunnan, and only by holding the southwest of Guizhou can Yang Qiu's army be kept out of Yunnan. ”

"Then you can't let them do this nonsense, right? What are we waiting for the revolution for? Now Guizhou. Huang Yuying said angrily: "It's better to be in the Qianqing!" ”

Han Jianduo did not give in, and insisted on defending: "The chaos must be cured, Yang Qiu killed indiscriminately in the three provinces for no reason, isn't his position getting more and more stable?" As long as he survives this period and drives his troops out of Guizhou, he can naturally stabilize slowly. ”

Cai Ye suddenly felt very tired when he watched the two arguing, and in just a few words, it could be seen that the Dian army was slowly getting out of control. At the beginning, he sent Tang Jiyao and Liu Cunhou to Guizhou, in fact, he also wanted to simply get rid of these two big burdens, but now it seems that in addition to the two of them, there are still many unrests around him, for fear of another contradiction, so he changed the topic and asked: "By the way, I heard that Yang Qiu has purchased a lot of machinery and equipment to expand the Hanyang Arsenal and the ironworks?" Is there anything new about his negotiations with the Japanese? ”

Speaking of the prosperity of Hubei, Huang Yuying's eyes were hot and said: "It's not just Hanyang. A few days ago, Mr. Tang Jueton sent a telegram saying that he had purchased tens of millions of machines in one go, and in addition to expanding Hanyang, he would also rebuild Chongqing into a second Hanyang. Even Mr. Sun said that he was a model for industrial salvation and called on all provinces to learn from it. ”

"Humph!" Han Jianduo snorted: "Is the call useful? What about money? The three provinces are all tax-paying provinces, and the land of fat is oily, so even if we want to learn where to get the money? Even the military spending cannot be raised now, so how can there be leisure to engage in industry. ”

Although Huang Yuying was dissatisfied with Han Jianduo's attitude, he was also telling the truth. Yang Qiu has the geographical advantage of Hankou, and has a good family background left by the former Qing Dynasty, plus the treasure house of Sichuan salt tax, so he naturally does not worry about money, but what else can Yunnan have besides rice and opium? So he didn't argue, but continued enviously: "Mr. Tang Jueton also said that in addition to the Hanchuan line, Yang Qiu also set up two railway companies to prepare to build two railways from Wuchang to Shuicheng and to Chenzhou. I really don't know where he got the confidence. ”

"You said he was going to build a railway from Wuchang to Shuicheng?" Cai Ye immediately caught this sentence. After he reminded Han Jianduo of this, he immediately realized that it was not good, and said: "Shuicheng is only one step away from the border of Yunnan, does he want to." ”

Cai Ye didn't speak, and turned around to look at the map on the wall. As one of the best officers in the country, if he didn't even understand what it meant to build a railroad to his doorstep, he would have studied in the Japanese non-commissioned officer school in vain, so he immediately frowned.

Han Jianduo disagreed, and said, "Forty million a year? Where did he get the money? In my opinion, I'm afraid it's just shouting, Guizhou's poor mountains and bad waters, even if it doesn't take four or five years to repair now, we won't be able to reach Guiyang, and with the buffer of these few years, we can already drive Yang Qiu out of Guizhou. ”

Huang Yuying is not as optimistic as him, it is not easy to drive Yang Qiu out of Guizhou, people are now coming with two brigades, or the second-line troops will overwhelm Tang Jiyao, if you wait for Daye's matter to be resolved, completely free up your hands and send a few more brigades, not to mention Guizhou, it is still a question whether Yunnan can hold it. Just as he was about to continue speaking, the secretary of the Governor's Office brought a telegram, and after a hurried glance, he stood up.

Seeing that there was both excitement and worry on his face, Cai Ye asked, "Zihe, who sent the telegram?" ”

Huang Yuying looked away from the telegram with difficulty, and said: "It was sent from Beijing by Mr. Jueton, and he said that Yang Qiu's negotiations with Japan have ended!" After he paid off the Japanese loan in advance with $5.5 million, he got half of Daye's shares, and Sheng Xuanhuai also sold the shares to Kwong Rongguang, and Kwong Rongguang gave him the shares the next day! Beijing didn't get anything this time, so Yuan Shikai was still furious, and Tang Shaoyi had already proposed to resign from the post of prime minister on the grounds that he was in poor health and needed to stay in Hankou for medical treatment! . ”……

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