Chapter 873: Road Construction (1)

There is a story behind any hot spot, and there will be people who will go to find the roots. A hundred years later, an author wrote an article "Anecdote about Suzhou" mentioning this hot story, and the focus was not on the reaction of the literary world, but on some civil speech records. The author concludes a striking conclusion, which occurred after the abolition of conscription by the Cabinet, cannot but be said to have been premeditated. The reason for coming to this conclusion is very simple, the people are often cloudy: Chen Xiang abolished forced labor, the whole world celebrated, and he dared to embarrass Chen Xiang's move, and before the national law sanctioned, he deeply regretted that he could not spit on him in person.

Tata Tower, the sound of horses' hooves came from far and near, and the sentry box at the intersection poked out a head after raising the railing, and beckoned to the horse team coming outside: "Chen Pu, there is a letter from your family, it is actually from Jingshi, don't you say that you are from Jiangnan?" ”

The horse team that came back from the railway construction site, and the official Chen Pu at the head was dusty. The young man's face, which was smacked into black charcoal, showed a sincere smile and said, "It should be a letter from the insider's family from Jingshi Yue's house." Chen Pu turned over and dismounted with a smile, and after beckoning the convoy into the town, he took the letter from the sentry box and said thank you.

His wife is the daughter of a merchant in the south of the Yangtze River, and the so-called Jingshi Yue family has nothing to do. It should be that his wife was entrusted by herself to go to Beijing to ask the old man for peace. When I opened the letter, I looked up and said: Husband, seeing the letter is like meeting, the five-year period has passed for two years, and the parting feelings have not dared to forget a bit. In the wilderness of North America, take care of .......

Juanxiu's handwriting, there is a faint longing between the lines, and the years have passed, and there has been no reduction in the slightest. As the heir of Chen's Railway, Chen Pu took the initiative to invite Ying to come to North America to preside over the construction of the railway two years ago. When he returned to China after the completion of the railroad from Jinshan to Salt Lake City, he took over as president of the railroad group. Chen Pu clearly told his wife Liu about this.

Today, Salt Lake City is just a small town. As a springboard for the eastward development of the North American Special Administrative Region of the Ming Dynasty, it has attracted the attention of colonists and local natives from various countries. Since the establishment of Los Angeles, the North American administrative region has made some adjustments to its indigenous policies in response to the current situation.

For example, to build a railway, a large number of laborers are needed, where does it come from? In the past, they used to capture natives as slaves. Saving money is saving money, but while casualties are inevitable, the work efficiency is not high. As a result, some people put forward the idea of "being kind to the natives and being good neighbors".

Of course, this is just a statement, and the specific implementation is four words "differential treatment", and more specifically is "Shunchang reverse". In the treatment of some moderate natives, the colonists took the initiative to trade with them, relying on the strong productivity of the Ming Dynasty and the output of the North American steel companies. The price of ironware, which is popular with the indigenous people, has plummeted. Of course, there is a premise here, that is, the natives who are willing to cooperate with the Ming colonists and are willing to be included in the Ming North American administrative region system have this treatment.

The residence in the town is very simple, a wooden house of about 30 square meters, which is still preferential because of his status. With the influx of large populations, the area behind the walls of Salt Lake Town became noticeably more crowded. The walls that were originally built when there were only a population of more than 1,000 were built according to the requirements of 5,000 people. As a result, more than 10,000 people poured in. For safety, everyone naturally crammed into this town.

There are also people who are brave enough to move out of town. Building your own house, spaciousness is definitely guaranteed, but safety is not easy to say. It's already deep into the North American continent, and although the surrounding natives are quite restrained, when they are alone, they really don't mind making a cameo appearance as a robber. Chen Pu thought about living outside the town. But he was resolutely stopped by the two entourages around him.

"Young master, you're back, how are you doing along the way?" One of the doors in a row of wooden houses opened, and out came an old man in his fifties, Chen Fu. This is one of Chen Pu's entourage, born as an orphan. He stayed in the Chen family for a lifetime. Taking the reins from Chen Pu's hand, Chen Fu went to settle the livestock. Another young man came out of the room, his face was pale and dark, and when he saw Chen Pu, he smiled with difficulty: "The young master is back, I didn't expect that my illness would require the young master to take care of me." ”

This is Zhang Lu, the child of the servant who grew up with Chen Pu, and his mother is Chen Pu's nurse, the two studied together and grew up together, and they have a similar relationship with brothers. Chen Pu came to North America, and Zhang Lu wanted to come with him to help. He didn't study railroads, but accounting. It just so happened that Chen Pu was used as an account office, which can be regarded as applying what he has learned.

Chen Pu smiled thousands of times, used the pressure well to draw water by himself, and said with a smile after washing his face: "Why do you and I have to be young master?" You don't listen to what you say. "Habits are terrible things, Zhang Lu has always called it that, it's too difficult for him to change. Every time Chen Pu said this, he smiled and passed.

"It's safe on the road, right?" Zhang Lu stepped forward to take the basin and poured out the sewage. Chen Pu dried the towel and said, "How can it be unsafe to walk with the road escort team." Thirty people, heavily armed. As he spoke, Chen Pu took off his belt, and there was a revolver on it, and after hanging it up, he said: "The project is progressing quite smoothly, and the biggest problem now is that the output of the rails is not enough." We build railways, and we have to compete with machine factories for steel. ”

No one in the town knew Chen Pu's identity, and no one treated him as Chen Xiang's grandson, just like an ordinary railway worker. Of course, Chen Pu is within the company, and because of his personal ability, he is now the technical director of railway engineering. In the eyes of everyone, the young man has a lot of power in his hands, and he is also the object of courtesy of businessmen.

"There's a letter from home, and there's one from you." Chen Pu took out the letter from his pocket, handed it to Zhang Lu and said: "Xijun said in the letter that the package was mailed at home, and it is estimated that it will arrive a few days late, you remember to check it." ”

While the two were talking, an officer hurriedly rushed in and said, "Director Chen, there is an urgent telegram in Fifty Miles, and thousands of natives are besieging and asking for reinforcements." Chen Pu's face changed as soon as he heard this, and the project was extremely difficult to repair in that place of fifty miles. Once it is damaged, it will be much more difficult to rebuild it.

Since the beginning of the railway project, many sections of the road have been very desolate, and there have been many indigenous attacks. Fifty miles is a small town, where there is a company of garrisons, and five or six hundred situations and workers, which should be able to withstand it for a few days. The point is to look at the rescue, the indigenous attacks are very destructive, they like to rip off the railroad tracks. Then take it back and hit the tools. Speaking of which, the indigenous iron-striking technology has been passed down after some people have returned to the indigenous society in recent years.

Lying on the map and looking at it, Chen Pu frowned and said, "Strange, haven't the natives in this area always been very cooperative?" How could something so big suddenly happen? The officer shook his head and said, "Who knows this?" Now the terrible thing is that the telegraph line is also broken. We can't get in touch with Jinshan, and we can't get in touch with the garrison in Maple Leaf Town. ”

"The garrison of Maple Leaf Town has only one company of troops, and even if it goes, it will be a waste of water. In this case, you take your subordinates and go and bring the road guard. There are militias and so many residents in the town, we don't have to worry about security. Chen Pu finished speaking quickly, and when he turned around and grabbed his belt and fastened it, Zhang Lu had already come out of the room inside, holding a rifle in his hand and said, "Young Master." Take this with you, and I'm not going to mess with you. ”

Looking at his sweaty face, Chen Pu smiled and nodded: "Recuperate with peace of mind, it will be fine soon." ”

In the sharp whistle, three hundred road guards urgently assembled, Chen Pu's luck was good, usually these people are scattered on the nearby road section, and recently caught up with a holiday. The guards of all sections of the road gathered in the town to rest. The road guards are not an army in the ordinary sense, but everyone is a retired soldier. Everybody can ride a horse, and one person has two horses. In terms of equipment, except for machine guns and mountain artillery, other equipment can be on par, and even some auxiliary equipment is superior to the army.

There were two companies of garrisons in Salt Lake Town, and it was the same officer who led the team. Lieutenant Qi Heng. In order to be in a hurry, the garrison did not bring mountain artillery, but only brought four 60-mm mortars equipped with the company level, plus four 60 mortars brought by the road escort team, and the firepower was sufficient. The biggest concern now is the road problem. If the road is damaged and the carriages are difficult to travel, the transportation of shells is a problem.

When the bell rang, it was the town gathering militia. Because of the railway land acquisition, the railway company and the town are very unhappy, and the relationship between the mayor and the company is a little stiff, and he is not very cooperative with the actions of the railway.

Just as the road escort and garrison were having finished assembling, the town suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves. As soon as he flew over, it was the town mayor Gu Shuang who turned over and dismounted, and when he saw Chen Pu, he said with a straight face: "I heard that Wulipu was besieged by the natives, and these white-toothed wolves who are not familiar with them. Don't worry, although I don't like you, I won't embarrass you for this kind of big thing. According to local law in North America, residents of towns over the age of 18 and under the age of 40 are required to join militias. Now I can support you with 500 men, leaving 2,000 men to defend the town is not a problem. ”

"Thank you so much, I'm still worried about the lack of troops?" Chen Pu hurriedly thanked him, but this guy snorted, turned around and left, and after explaining a few words to a militia commander who rushed over, he got on the horse and flashed people. Chen Pu was quite embarrassed, Qi Heng smiled on the side: "Don't mind, he has this temper." When the land was requisitioned, the railway company refused to give the town a stake, although he was uncomfortable, but he didn't make it difficult for you, didn't he? ”

This is the truth, in fact, Chen Pu can understand his thoughts, Salt Lake Town has only been established for a little more than a year, and it can develop to the current pattern, Gu Shuang's ability has been proven, this guy just has a bad temper.

"Gu Shuang, let me tell you, you should go back and report now, and ask to upgrade Salt Lake Town to a county seat, so that you are eligible to buy shares in the railway company." Chen Pu shouted, Gu Shuang understood it, turned around and came back, and said in surprise: "Don't try to lie to me, I have called the upgrade report more than a dozen times, and the Jinshan Governor's Mansion has not approved it." ”

Chen Pu said with a smile: "You give me the report and promise to approve it within a month, don't forget, I am a capitalist dog." The words still carry a lot of weight. The capitalist's doglegs, this nickname was given to Chen Pu by Gu Shuang, and when he said it at this time, Gu Shuang really laughed and said: "Okay, you are simply, and I am also simple." By the way, by the way, I also handed in the report on the distribution of military supplies, but there were not enough supplies, and the project that the town wanted to expand could not start for a long time. ”

"Don't even think about it, there are more than 3,500 people in the road escort team, and there are only 30 mortars in total, and I still want to ask the governor's palace for military supplies. Governor Dai's slamming the door, it is a strange thing that he can sign. This time, Chen Pu refused, Gu Shuang just gave it a try, and if it didn't work, he would pull it. It's just that they didn't take advantage of it, mortars are in demand everywhere, and in this part of North America, every town wants to have a few more of these lightweight artillery. It's a pity that this stuff is produced in limited quantities and is prioritized for the army. Especially when the Second Division of the North American Army was being prepared, Dai Zhiyuan would not sign for the artillery if he killed him.

The three forces converged, and Qi Heng naturally became the commander, Chen Pu didn't fight for this name, and fighting a war was also professional. The Ming soldiers were a squadron of 100 men, with their own horses and rifles, and ammunition was provided by the town. The road escort team was much more luxurious, with salaries and equipment, and the brigade was equipped with an artillery squadron, adding up to three hundred and fifty people.

Qi Heng sent a company as the vanguard, followed by another company, with the road guard in the center and the militia in the rear. In contrast, the tactical literacy of the militia is much worse, they are all a group of young men, and every household in North America has guns, and it is not a problem for these people to shoot, but the difficulty is to cooperate with each other. So, I didn't plan to use them as a lead.

All the way to the west, when walking out of the twenty miles, there was a roadblock on the road, this section of the road next to a hill, the vanguard was more careful, did not rush forward, lined up a squad to check the news, as a result of this squad was hit by a smoothbore gun, wounded one person, and five horses, the others successfully withdrew.

The barricades are made of trees piled up, but the hillsides on both sides are faintly guarded. If you want to take a detour, not to mention taking away more than a dozen kilometers, there is no guarantee of safety alone. Looking at the time, Chen Pu said to Qi Heng: "It's getting dark, we must launch a strong attack, otherwise when we enter the night, the advantage will be weakened, not to mention, the difficulty of guarding the fifty-mile shop will also increase." ”

"Okay, when the artillery is ready, I'll rush up with people." Qi Heng gritted his teeth and looked at the hillside, but was stopped by Chen Pu and said: "Let the road escort team go first, they are all veterans, and the company's pension is also high." Qi Heng hesitated a little, nodded and said, "Okay, let's arrange it like this." Chen Pu makes sense, there are many young people in the regular army, unlike the road guard, which is composed of retired veterans over 30 years old, these people have taken over the marriage, and the children will play soy sauce. Besides, they earn money for their lives, and the reason why these people join the road guard team is because they don't know much else except fighting. Since the development of North America, there are many similar veterans, and the mounted police team can't fit it, so they have to come to the road protection team. (To be continued......)