Chapter 67: War and the Westernization Movement (2)

Zeng Zhidong, a warlord in a coastal province of the Han Kingdom, claimed to have 500,000 soldiers, since the land reparation incident, he also realized the importance of strong ships and artillery, with a good relationship with the Io-Dutch Empire, he began to run schools, build factories, set up military schools, buy ironclad warships, attract talents from all over the country, and made it vigorous for a while.

Yun Zhongfei, a hostile force in the neighboring province of Zeng Zhidong, with the metal minerals in the area under his jurisdiction, took the special line of the Western Portuguese and Western Empires, purchased a large number of muskets and artillery to equip the army, and took out loans to buy three second-hand frigates and began to expand the army.

At the same time, other warlord forces were not far behind, expanding their military strength. During the vigorous Westernization Movement in the coastal provinces, a large number of patriotic students from the interior rushed to the coastal areas to serve in the army, and some went to study abroad in order to contribute to the motherland. It is a pity that Emperor Daoguang is alone, there is not a single soldier in his hands, and the various forces in the court are fighting in the name and secret, and because of the emptiness of the country, all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes have come in response to the situation, and the domestic situation has begun to turbulent. At this time, an eight-magnitude earthquake occurred in a certain area in the northern part of the Han Dynasty, killing and injuring more than 100,000 people, and millions of people were homeless.

Huayang County, located in the west, did not listen to the affairs outside the window and was immersed in large-scale construction. Although the loess plateau north of Huayang County and south of the Dayan River has a harsh environment, the soil is fertile, as long as it is used reasonably, it is a God-given fertile land, and at the same time, there are 10 billion tons of bauxite, 200 million tons of rare earth ore, 8 billion tons of coal, 6 billion tons of oil, trillions of cubic meters of natural gas, and the limestone exposed on the surface is inexhaustible, which is the natural treasure house given by nature to human beings. As a result, petrochemical plants, coal mining bases, large lead factories, power plants, etc. were built.

When the grain harvest in autumn was bumper and the two residential communities that could accommodate 50,000 people were completed, winter came, and the old, weak, sick and disabled children in the rural areas of Huayang County moved into new houses and would no longer be hungry and cold, which aroused the enthusiasm of young people for construction in winter. Conscription began, and the first recruits of 2,000 men were soon put into winter training, and in the spring of the following year they were the first cavalry regiment. The Huayang County Escort also recruited 1,000 people, and they were standing local forces. The hunters of each village were also organized to conduct a winter competition, and more than 500 hunters were selected through the competition, leaving 200 outstanding players to enter the sniper training course to train excellent snipers for the troops, and the unsuccessful hunters entered the county guard.

Huayang County has a population of 120,000, and now everyone has something to do, everyone has money to get, even the children who go to school also have scholarships, and they have to spend more than 100,000 taels of silver every month, which does not include construction costs, so I have to pay for all the expenses out of my own pocket. When I heard that the imperial court paid an indemnity of 300 million taels of silver, which was delivered to the Japanese in three installments, my eyes lit up······

In this way, the Japanese navy was unlucky, fifteen warships, twenty freighters mysteriously disappeared, and three hundred million taels of silver.

When the earth rejuvenated, the merchant group of Huayang County set off, and the two brigades went to the two adjacent county towns, and the caravan to the provincial capital was led by Zhang Hu himself, with a small car taking the lead, two trucks following, followed by twenty carriages and fifty cavalry guards, who carried fruit-scented soap, disposable lighters, shampoo, exquisite ceramic products, various flower cloths, all kinds of plastic products, rubber tires and other goods produced in the factory, as well as trucks that ate gasoline. Cars were rare in the Han Kingdom, only Westerners in the colonies of the coastal provinces had them, and they were very expensive, and now Zhang Hu and them drove into the provincial capital, immediately attracting onlookers.

Zhang Hu stayed in the largest hotel in the provincial capital, and asked his subordinates to invite the merchants in the provincial capital one by one with the bill of goods and invitations, and he drove a small car to visit the provincial governor and other important officials.

Three days later, the governor attended the province's first business fair, the various commodities displayed at the meeting site deeply stimulated the nerves of every businessman, soap, shampoo on the spot, disposable lighters are more convenient than matches, plastic basins, buckets are unheard of, all kinds of chemical fiber cloth dazzled women, the scene was hot, businessmen bid on the spot to obtain a product provincial agency, half a day into millions of taels of silver, so that Zhang Hu can no longer be calm in his heart, he does not understand how these goods are produced, I don't understand this kind of sales method, I only know that the benefactor gave him a different life from Li Bao, he just needs to follow the manual to copy the operation.

When the goods brought were sold out at retail prices, the merchants focused on the trucks and cars, and when they learned that the cars were bought and sold in gold, several of them started to buy and sell**.

Early the next morning, the merchants of the provincial capital formed a group and went to Huayang County, they did not believe that a poor county government in the west could produce such outstanding goods, and they must see is believing······