On the morning of the tenth day of the first month of the eighth year of Xiande, five wide and luxurious four-wheeled carriages galloped on the official road leading from Beiping City to Liangxiang County.\\ On a carriage in the middle, Xu Xinsheng was chatting and laughing with Jia Run'an and Zeng Zhilin, who accompanied him.

This is the fourth day of Xu Xinsheng's visit to the Beiping Army, and it is also the first day of a series of field visits that he is most looking forward to. Different from the previous tour of the pavilions and pavilions in Beiping City and the scenic spots outside the city accompanied by Jia Run'an, the 10-day visit starting today will be all destinations of various military facilities of the Beiping Army. It is precisely because of this that in addition to Jia Run'an, Zeng Zhilin, who accompanied him on the visit, also included the deputy commander of the Beiping Army's Horse Infantry Artillery Army, the commander of the infantry army, the chief officer of the Beiping Mansion, and Zeng Zhilin, who was also the deputy director of the military department of the crossing team and the deputy commander-in-chief of the former enemy headquarters.

Because of the armed Liliang under the command of the "Qingyuan" brothers of the Beiping Army, he was both very curious and very yearning. Therefore, although the handlebar type had already driven the four-wheeled carriage pulled by four horses on the flat concrete official road, Xu Xinsheng still felt that the speed was not fast enough. If it weren't for the fact that he was a guest, this guy would have been urging the handlebar style to speed up again and again. It's just that although Xu Xinsheng didn't say anything, he lifted the curtains on the car window from time to time, and the action of looking out still clearly expressed what he was thinking. So, knowing his brother's thoughts, Jia Run'an comforted while filling the other party's teacup with tea: "Brother, don't worry. The first regiment of the 'security army' is stationed in five miles south of Beiping City, and we are now taking the cement official road, and at the speed of the four-wheeled carriage we are riding, under the premise of ensuring safety, we can get there with at most one pillar of incense. ”

"yes, yes." Zeng Zhilin also interjected on the side, "Compared with the other two places we will visit later, the station of the first regiment of the 'Security Army' is the closest one. You must know that our second stop, the 'Xianglong Fort' recruit training base, is farther away than Liangxiang City, nearly eighty miles away from Beiping City. And our third station, which is also a station of Zuihou, is located in the north of Huairou and south of Miyun, and it is more than 120 miles away from Beiping City. And unlike the cement official road to Liangxiang City, the road to Huairou and Miyun is an ordinary dirt road, and the driving speed of the carriage is much slower than now, and it will take more than a day on the road. Compared with this, what is the short time of a pillar of incense to the station of the first regiment of the 'Security Army'? ”

"Since the road is not easy to walk, then Weishenme is not like this, and the official roads from Beiping City to Huairou and Miyun County are also built into cement roads? In that case, it will not only facilitate the exchange of personnel and materials, but also greatly increase the speed of troop mobility in wartime. Xu Xinsheng asked with some puzzlement.

Hearing this, Jia Runan waved his hand and said, "This is not easy to say. First, the output of the Beiping Army's cement production plant is limited, and it cannot meet the needs of laying cement official roads between all key points and key points within the jurisdiction of the Beiping Army at the same time. Second, unlike the flat terrain in the south of Beiping, the terrain in the north of the city is getting higher and more complex, and the difficulty of laying the cement official road is still quite difficult with the current jishu ability. Laying all the lines you need doesn't happen overnight. After all, our brothers have only been in charge of the Beiping Army for more than a year, and it is not easy to build cement official roads in Beiping City and Liangxiang, as well as 'Xianglong Fort', 'Feilong Fort', 'Liangyuan' and other places. If we want to lay haode words between all the key points and key positions of the Beiping Army, I am afraid that it will be impossible in two or thirty years. In addition, the cost of road construction is a major limiting factor. As far as my brother knows, the cost of such a cement official road is about 1,000 yuan. The road from Beiping City to Liangxiang alone took more than 60,000 yuan. The total length of the main road of the Beiping Army is more than 10,000 miles, and if it is built into a cement pavement, it will cost more than 100 times that of this road. No matter how high the ability of the brothers of the Beiping Army to make money is, they will not be able to earn so much money to pave the way in a short period of time. ”

Moreover, such a cost can only be achieved when the labor to build the road is mainly Khitan captives, and there is no need to pay any remuneration for them. If it were done by ordinary people, I don't know how much more labor costs would be. After all, our Beiping Army basically will not apportion labor to the people under its rule, and all the people who work for the Jiedu Mansion will be paid accordingly, and there will never be vain calls or blank stripes. Zeng Zhilin then added.

After listening to Jia and Zeng's explanations, Xu Xinsheng knew that it was useless for him to be in a hurry. So he stepped down, chatting with Jia and Zeng all over the world, while looking out through the car window glass from time to time. Take in the scenery on both sides of the road, look at the concrete road that stretches straight and seems to have no end, and reminisce about the feeling of driving on the highway before the crossing.

Speaking of which, this is not the first time Xu Xinsheng has seen cement roads in this era. On the way north to the Beiping Army, he had already carefully observed this cement official road from a distance. However, according to the decree of the Beiping Army, in order to ensure the efficiency of the use of cement official roads and avoid affecting the driving speed on the official roads due to the mixing of people and vehicles and too many low-speed carriages, only four-wheeled carriages with more than two horses, cavalry of various units of the Beiping Army, and messengers and public officials of various yamen traveling on horseback can drive on the cement official roads. Therefore, at that time, the traditional carriage of this era that Xu Xinsheng rode was not allowed to drive on the cement official road, otherwise he would be intercepted and punished by the so-called "traffic police" who rode horses or drove on this official road, so he did not have any special feelings about this cement official road except that he felt a little strange.

In fact, even if there is no decree issued by the Beiping Army, those who ride in traditional horse-drawn carriages generally do not take the cement official road. Because for the traditional horse-drawn carriage without any shock absorption and cushioning equipment, the cement official road is too hard, and the horses really have to run at speed, and the people in the car are quite uncomfortable, and only those four-wheeled carriages equipped with spring shock absorbers dare to run fast on this kind of road.

The five-mile journey is indeed a very close distance for Xu Xinsheng and the four-wheeled carriage pulled by four horses, leaving the south gate of Beiping City only a little more than a pillar of incense, Xu Xinsheng and his party have already arrived at the cement official road to the sentry post at the entrance of the branch line of the first regiment of the "Security Army".

Although the eye-catching logos painted on the bodies of the five luxury carriages indicating that they were the official cars of the Jiedu Prefecture could be seen from a distance, the soldiers in charge of guarding the sentry post did not move away and let the horses go, but faithfully performed their duties, and a leading officer with the rank of second lieutenant personally stepped forward and stood outside the horses to signal the other party to stop for inspection.

Regarding the performance of the sentry, Zeng Zhilin, the actual fourth-in-command of the crossing team, not only did not have any dissatisfaction, but nodded approvingly - as one of the formulators of various rules and regulations of the crossing team, Zeng Zhilin naturally hoped that the rules he had spent his heart and energy to formulate could be very observed. If the sentry sees the carriage and lets it go, then he will be dissatisfied or even angry. At the same time, the accompanying guards sitting in the first carriage opened the door and handed over the official documents issued by the Jiedu Mansion and their own documents to the sentry.

Zeng Zhilin was very satisfied with the performance of the sentries in following the rules, but the second lieutenant who was in charge of checking the official documents was taken aback by the official document in his hand, because this little second lieutenant officer did not expect that the person sitting in the car was actually Zeng Deputy Commander, who was in second place among the military generals, and the ordinary officers and men of the Peiping Army naturally did not know and would not understand the distribution of duties within the crossing team. In their eyes, Wang Kunjun and Xu Shaoan, who were the envoys and deputy envoys of the Beiping Army, were handsome but not generals, and the highest position among the generals was Qian Yuanshan, the commander of the Mabu Artillery Army, and then Zeng Zhilin, the deputy commander of the capital. Therefore, when he realized that he was stopping the carriage of his boss's boss, it was not surprising that the person in charge of the checkpoint was not taken aback.

However, after being taken aback, the long-term training and ideological education have long since formed in the minds of almost all officers and men in Peiping, including this second lieutenant, the concept and habit of scrupulously fulfilling their duties, fulfilling their responsibilities, and accomplishing their tasks. Therefore, after being stunned for a while, the person in charge of the checkpoint began to check the authenticity of official documents and certificates in accordance with the regulations.

After confirming that the official document and the seals on the guard's certificate, anti-counterfeiting and other identifying features were accurate, the second lieutenant officer handed the official document and certificate back to the guard who got out of the car to negotiate with him, and after exchanging military salutes with the guard, he signaled his subordinates to move away and let the convoy pass. Immediately, the second lieutenant officer, who had already stood on the side of the road, shouted the command of "salute" and raised his right hand again to take the lead in saluting the entire convoy, or to Zeng Zhilin, who was sitting in one of the cars.

This episode of passing the checkpoint is naturally very satisfying for Zeng Zhilin, and his subordinates are doing their jobs according to the rules and doing their duties, but for Xu Xinsheng, it is another touch. Because from this episode of only one or two minutes, he not only saw that the armed forces under the command of the Beiping Army were comprehensive and the regulations were perfect. And I also saw the strict discipline and excellent quality of this armed force. Although these are only some of the qualities that an army should possess, they are also the basis for ensuring that the other qualities of the army are equally good. An army with such a solid foundation will never be low in combat effectiveness.

The carriage passed through the checkpoint, and after a few minutes on a concrete road hidden in the dense forest that was slightly narrower than the official road, it came across a second checkpoint. Similar to the situation when passing through the first checkpoint, another second lieutenant officer in charge of guarding this checkpoint was also stunned at first when he saw the official documents and identity documents, and then returned to normal, inspected the official documents and documents in accordance with the rules, and after confirming that they were correct, he sent a signal in the direction of the station and let the convoy pass.

After passing the second checkpoint, the convoy had already driven out of the dense forest, and Xu Xinsheng was greeted by a large meadow. At the end of this meadow, the thick wall of the garrison of the First Regiment of the "Security Army," the towering flagpole in the center of the garrison, and the three flags fluttering fiercely at the top of the flagpole -- the flag of the Beiping Army, the flag of the "Security Army," and the regimental flag of the First Regiment of the "Security Army" -- were displayed one by one.

Just when Xu Xinsheng was looking at the three flags flying high and listening to Zeng Zhilin explain to him the meaning of the three flags, a team of patrol cavalry of about a squad had already come to the front of the convoy, and lined up on both sides of the convoy in an orderly manner, escorting the convoy to the gate of the station.

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