After leaving Gao Jun and those people behind, Yan Shao took a car and drove towards the provincial capital under the front and back of the convoy.

On the way back, Yan Shaozheng was thinking carefully about how to speak after seeing Zhan Tianyou, and the driver sitting in front of him had already asked. "Governor, actually, I've always wanted to ask about something..."

Hearing that the driver had something to ask him, although he knew that he couldn't see it, Yan Shao still nodded. "Just ask."

Generally speaking, those who can be drivers, even if they are not confidants, at least they are trustworthy people, and their relationship is much closer than others, so Yan Shaozhi doesn't mind him asking himself some questions.

"That's right...", he spun the steering wheel and turned to the right. I heard that the Xiangshan Iron Works intends to expand its production capacity from 500,000 tons to 1 million tons within a year..."

"Yes..."Yan Shao sighed lightly. There are so many places where steel is used, and there are car factories, arsenals, and future shipyards, and the current output of iron factories alone is a bit enough..."

Of course, the drivers also knew about it, but he still asked a little strangely. "But is 1 year really enough?"

In the driver's memory, the Hanyang Iron Works in Hubei took more than three years to complete, and the production capacity is far from being comparable to that of the Xiangshan Iron Works. He and others think it is somewhat unrealistic for Xiangshan Iron Works to increase its production capacity by more than five times more than that of Hanyang Iron Works, but it will be completed in one year...

"What you want to ask is this..."Finding that this is what the driver wanted to ask, Yan Shao smiled. Have you heard of Qingxi Iron Works? ”

"What?" Hear this unfamiliar name. The driver was stunned for a moment.

"You have to know that you have to run an industry in these years, no matter what kind of industry it is. The most time-consuming thing is not the construction, but the preparation of funds. ”

Speaking of this, Yan Shao looked out of the car window.

When it comes to the word "Hanyang", I am afraid that everyone among the Chinese people knows it, after all, whether it is the Hanyang Arsenal, or the Hanyang Iron Factory, or the Hanyang Ironworks, or the Hanyang Manufacture that has been used for decades. All of them have left a strong mark in China's modern history. In particular, the Hanyang Iron Works in Zhangzhidong, Hubei Province, may be synonymous with modern iron and steel enterprises in the hearts of many Chinese people. But in fact, China's first modern iron and steel enterprise was not the Hanyang Iron Works. It is the Qingxi Iron Works in Guizhou.

Qingxi Iron Works was set up in 1885 by Pan Fei, the governor of Guizhou, and then Pan Fei spent more than 4 years to apply for approvals, prepare funds and purchase equipment, and the final equipment installation and commissioning only took a few months, of course, this is also related to the scale of Qingxi Iron Works.

After the completion of Qingxi Iron Works, it is not only a large-scale iron plant with an annual output of 17,500 tons of steel and 10,000 tons of pig iron. At the same time, it is also the first modern iron plant in China. In terms of time, it is 3 years earlier than the Hanyang Iron Works in Zhangzhidong, Hubei.

Of course, the final outcome of the Qingxi Iron Works was as tragic as the countless events that took place during the Manchu Qing Dynasty. For example, Pan Lu (Pan Fei's brother), the director of the iron factory, had to run around after the iron factory started because of lack of funds, and as a result, he was emaciated and ill, and finally died in July of that year...

Pan Lu was one of the very few talents with senior management level at that time, and at the same time proficient in Western studies and Western affairs, and his death can be said to be a fatal blow to the already bleak prospects of Qingxi Iron Works, and at this time, various other big and small problems were added. In the end, Qingxi, a modern iron plant that took 5 years and cost hundreds of thousands, had to be closed after only 3 months of construction...

Today, I'm afraid that few people still know the Tao. Qingxi in Guizhou was once the birth of China's first modern iron and steel enterprise...

"So..."Yan Shao smiled. As I said, the most time-consuming thing to run an iron plant is to apply for approval, prepare funds and purchase equipment, and it is not time-consuming to build a plant and install and debug equipment. As for applying, I am now the governor of Anhui, I don't need to apply at all, and no one can let me apply—————— I can't apply with that kid in Beijing. ”

"As for the funds? Needless to say, the only thing that is more troublesome is the purchase of equipment, after all, it takes time to transport smelting equipment from Germany, but the construction of the iron plant also takes time, so this is nothing..."

"In this way..."After listening to Yan Shao's words, the driver finally understood.

Seeing that he had understood, he leaned forward, and Yan Shao patted him on the shoulder and said. "What's more, you are not ignorant of the style of those bureaucrats in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, considering the consistent style of those bureaucrats, the example of the Hanyang Iron Works really does not have any reference significance..."

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After explaining the problem to the driver, Yan Shao's convoy continued in the direction of the Governor's Mansion.

At the same time, in Anqing City, Zhan Tianyou and his student Gu Yuankai, who had just come off the ship, were also carefully looking at the newly recovered city.

After more than 10 days of recovery, the common people are no longer afraid of the military government and the Anhui Revolutionary Army, and the streets have gradually returned to the lively scene of the past, and the streets and alleys are full of people.

Of course, compared with the past, Anqing has also undergone some changes, such as the military flag of the Anhui military government hanging everywhere, that is, the red-bottom dragon flag over there. This is probably the biggest difference between the Anhui military government and other provincial military governments, after the recovery of Hubei, the Hubei military government played out the iron-blooded eighteen-star flag, and then other provinces also responded, until the eve of the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, the response to the provinces still declared that "the Hubei military governor's office is the central power, has the right to represent the provincial military government", in people's minds, the iron and blood banner of the Hubei military governor's office naturally has a special status corresponding to the "central power", which is why the Wuchang department is actually capable of confronting Huang Xing one of the reasons.

In addition to the difference in military flags, another point is that from time to time, you can see groups of soldiers wearing various military uniforms passing by on street corners. Because it had only been more than 10 days since the liberation, the military government at this time had not yet unified the dress of the army under its banner, so now the Anhui Revolutionary Army is still wearing the military uniform before the liberation.

"Yuan Kai, what do you think of this city?"

"That's good," he said, gesturing to the patrol soldier who had just walked by. Gu Yuankai nodded seriously. "At least it's much stronger than the revolutionary armies I've seen in other provinces."

Just now, when a few children were running around, they accidentally rushed into the patrol soldiers, but the soldiers not only did not reprimand. Instead, he smiled and sent them out. And when some people looked at them, they all nodded and smiled in response.

In Gu Yuankai's opinion, this scene is undoubtedly very different from those revolutionary armies in other provinces, especially when they set off in Shanghai—————— there were many hooligans in the revolutionary team, in fact, when they mixed into this team, they were indeed engaged in this industry.

In comparison, although the team in front of him is young, it seems to be much closer to the people. And Gu Yuankai and the others could also see that the people around them were not afraid of these soldiers.

"It's really good..."Nodding, Zhan Tianyou said to Gu Yuankai. Let's go to the Governor's Palace. I believe that the governor of Yan Du will not disappoint us this time..."

After all, it was the first time to come to Anqing, although the city at this time was not as big as those in later generations, but it still took Zhan Tianyou and them a while to get to the door of the Governor's Mansion, which was the result of asking the surrounding pedestrians for directions.

But it's also because of this time of walking. It also gave them a more intuitive understanding of Anqing and the military government. I even learned from the mouths of the local people that their evaluation of Yan Shao —————— one word, excellent (one word?) ）…

"What's the matter?" Seeing two strangers approaching, the guards standing in front of the Governor's Mansion stepped forward to stop them and said politely.

Seeing that the guards were so polite, Zhan Tianyou and Gu Yuankai glanced at Yan Shao again.

At this time, only a month had passed since the Wuchang Uprising, so Zhan Tianyou and the newly recovered military government actually didn't fight much. However, as the most famous railway engineer in China, he also went to various local governments before the Xinhai Revolution, and he personally presided over the Sichuan-Han Railway, which caused the road protection movement.

So in the past few years, he has also seen what some of the pro-soldiers of the former Qing bureaucrats look like. Although not every pro-soldier is a ruffian. But I've never seen anything so polite as this.

Of course, he must not know what to do, although the current Anhui Army has taken on a new mental outlook. But it is impossible to change the temper of Qiu Ba in the past in more than 10 days, not to mention that even the best revolutionary army is indispensable to veteran soldiers, and these guards standing at the gate of the Governor's Mansion are all personally selected by Yan Shao, in order to make the visitors have a good impression of the military government.

So while nodding secretly in his heart, Zhan Tianyou said to the guards. "Please let me know, just say Jiangxi Zhan Cheng..."

Before he could finish speaking, the guard was already clapping his hands. "You are Mr. Cheng, the governor has already ordered, saying that when you come, I will take you in immediately..." Mr. Cheng, please come in..."

On the other side, there were already guards who ran in quickly, wanting to inform Zhan Tianyou that he had arrived.

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In fact, Yan Shao had just come back from Dahu at this time, so after hearing the news that Zhan Tianyou had come, he hurriedly got up and went to greet him—————— For Yan Shao, there are many people who are qualified to let him get up to greet him in this era, but Zhan Tianyou is definitely one.

At the same time, looking at Yan Shao, who came out to greet him in person, after thinking of the scenes he had seen along the way, Zhan Tianyou also had a good impression of this young excessive governor...

"Come, Mr. Cheng, please take a seat...", calling Zhan Tianyou affectionately, Yan Shao pulled him to his seat. To Mr. Chengcheng, I've admired my name for a long time..."

Saying that, he took the initiative to take Zhan Tianyou's hand, if it was in the eyes of a stranger, seeing his enthusiastic appearance, he might have begun to wonder if Yan Shao had any bad tendencies.

However, Zhan Tianyou didn't think so in his heart, and after fully feeling Yan Shao's enthusiasm, Zhan Tianyou couldn't help but hold it back.

"Where, the governor is really polite, Zhan is really the name of the governor who has been admired for a long time..."This Zhan Tianyou didn't tell a lie, when Yan Shao had not returned to China, he had already read Yan Shao's novels, and later Yan Shao's reputation as China's first industrialist was even louder and abnormal, plus now he is the governor of the Anhui military government and a series of tax exemption policies just promulgated.

Although Zhan Tianyou was later known as the father of China's railways. He built China's first railway, the Xinyi Railway, and completed the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway two years ago, but at least in this era, Yan Shao's reputation was much louder than Zhan Tianyou's.

"Mr. Zhan is too polite...", he smiled slightly. Yan Shao continued. "The purpose of Yan's invitation to Mr. Zhan this time, I believe Mr. already knows the truth."

"Do you want Zhan to build a railway in Anhui?"

"That's right." Yan Shao nodded. "But not one, but many."

After motioning for someone to bring Zhan Tianyou a cup of tea, Yan Shao took out a map from the shelf. "Mr. Zhan, please see...", he slowly unfolded the map.

"I believe Mr. Zhan has also heard of Xiangshan Iron Works..."

This Zhan Tianyou has naturally heard of it, after all, today's Xiangshan Iron Works has surpassed the Hanyang Iron Works in Hubei and the Yawata Iron Works in Japan, and has become the largest steel plant in the Far East worthy of the name.

In any case, Zhan Tianyou's work also has something to do with steel, so it is naturally impossible not to care about this information.

Seeing Zhan Tianyou, he said that he knew the way. After nodding, Yan Shao continued. Yan's idea was to build a railway between Xiangshan Iron Works and Dangtu County first, so that the transportation between the Iron Works and Dangtu County could be made faster. In fact, Yan had thought about this in the early years, but Mr. Zhan also knew that it was the Qing court at that time, and Yan did not want to attract the attention of the Qing court. Therefore, the last thing is to build a gray road between Xiangshan and Dangtu County. ”

"The gray road is much stronger than the dirt road of the past. But mules and horses are not as good as trains after all, so now that Yan has become the highest official of the military government, he naturally has to find a way to make up for his original regrets. ”

"In addition, in addition to the railway between Dangtu and Xiangshan, Yan also plans to build a few railways between Xiangshan Town and several other iron mines. Yan is going to use the railway to connect the whole of Anhui in series..."

After listening to Yan Shao's words, Zhan Tianyou pondered.

Yan Shao's words naturally stirred his heart, but after experiencing many setbacks, Zhan Tianyou's personality calmed down a lot. It also becomes much more comprehensive when thinking about the problem. So it's also a one-handed straight path. "The governor's plan is also for the benefit of the country and the people, and Zhan is naturally willing to help the governor. I just don't know the financial aspect..."When Zhan Tianyou presided over the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, he calculated that it would take at least 12 million silver dollars to complete the 200-kilometer-long Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (saving in many ways, and only using more than 8 million yuan in the end). Although Yan Shao is known as the richest warlord in China, Zhan Tianyou is still a little bottomless in his heart, after all, what he wants to build this time is much longer than the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, and it is much more exaggerated, even if he takes so much money, it is difficult to say whether he will be willing to pay so much money...

Hearing that Zhan Tianyou actually doubted his ability to pay, Yan Guang really wanted to take out his account in the United States and show him what it means to show him what a real big dog is—————— if he really took it out, it would be a huge amount of money that could flood the Forbidden City, but he still restrained this impulse after the end. "Mr. Zhan, please rest assured, Yan may not be able to guarantee other aspects, but there is absolutely no problem in terms of funds."

Seeing that Yan Shao said so confidently, Zhan Tianyou couldn't say anything more.

"Then I don't know when Zhan can start working, if he can, Zhan hopes to be able to do it as soon as possible..."After all, Zhan Tianyou is here to repair the railway, so he naturally hopes that the work can start as soon as possible.

Hearing Zhan Tianyou's words, Yan Shao also laughed, "This point Yan is exactly the same as Mr. Cheng considered...", he said, and pointed to the location of Xiangshan Town and Dangtu on the map. "Yan's meaning is the same as just now, first build this railway, in addition, Yan has sent people to explore the local terrain, Xiangshan Town is only more than ten kilometers away from Dangtu County, I don't know how much time Mr. Lu Daozhan can take to repair..."

"More than ten kilometers..."Although this distance is really insignificant, as his first job after arriving in Anhui, Zhan Tianyou also hopes to complete it perfectly. This needs to depend on the local topography, if the terrain is complex, such as Sichuan, it will be more troublesome to build, on the contrary, if the terrain is flat, it is extremely simple, so I need to go to the detailed time before I can give it to you, but if the terrain is not very complicated, the time required for exploration is enough, maybe not even a month..."

Zhan Tianyou said that there is a basis for this, when the United States was building the Pacific Railroad a few decades ago, in the last stage before the Central Pacific Railroad and the Eastern Section of the Union Pacific Railroad were connected, the local Chinese laborers accepted the challenge of Irish laborers to start a road construction competition, and the Chinese workers in the western section set a world record of 10 miles and 200 feet (about 16.41 kilometers) of track laying in 12 hours, which is equivalent to more than one kilometer in one hour, which is obviously a very remarkable number...

Therefore, if Yan Shao can give Zhan Tianyou enough manpower and material support, the railway can be repaired in half a month. Of course, after all, it was the first time he had cooperated with Yan Shao, and he didn't know the terrain around Xiangshan, so he had to be a little more subtle in terms of time.

"A month..."Yan Shao nodded. Well, if you have anything to bring up, as long as Yan can do it, he will never refuse..."

Yan Shao naturally knows the importance of the Xiangshan Railway, not to mention that it is still the location of the future arsenal, so Yan Shao will definitely not be stingy in this matter.

A few hours later, Zhan Tianyou and Gu Yuankai left the Governor's Mansion and walked on the lively street, Zhan Tianyou said to Gu Yuankai. "Maybe we've come to the right place this time."

After sorting out the things at hand, Gu Yuankai also smiled. "Yes, although this Yan Dudu is young, it seems that he has indeed done a lot of practical things, and he is also very generous." After speaking, Gu Yuankai also patted the leather bag he was carrying. (To be continued......)