Expansion, Construction, Planning!

Due to the restrictions of weather conditions, the Government Council decided to postpone major surgery on Jilin and Heilongjiang, but was ready to take advantage of this long winter to make every effort to lay a good foundation in Liaodong, and the four construction corps that had just been organized were put into the construction of Lushun, Mukden, Dalian Bay and Andong respectively.

Wharf ports, roads and railways have become the top priority, from Lushun to Jinghaicheng to Fengtian railway first started, followed by Fengtian to Huludao, to Andong, to Changchun, Ningguta, to Heilongjiang Hunchun, etc., according to the plan of the Government Council, in the next five years, the railway will be built throughout the three northeastern provinces.

In addition, at least three hydropower stations and five coal-fired power plants will be built, as well as two new shipbuilding bases in Dalian Bay and Huludao, as well as various supporting factories.

In the next five years, Honolulu will gradually reduce the investment in Hawaii and the Ryukyus, and carry out a strategic shift to heavy industry.

"Do you want to find a few ladies for him to put out the fire?" Young Master Li thought evilly.

Although some people say that the three northeastern provinces were first incorporated into Honolulu, and they have a large population and complex composition, they should seek stability first, but Li Enfu scoffed, according to him, he was not worried about the so-called public opinion and popular will at all, and the Hawaiians did not welcome the Pacific Army at the beginning, and the Ryukyus were even more so, but now?

Hawaiian natives are proud to be able to enter the factory, women are proud to marry local Chinese, and young adults hope to join the army and conquer the world with the Pacific Army!

And the Ryukyus even has the status quo of the prince being greater than the king, the reason for this situation is very simple, because Li Mo brought them a good life, so that they have no worries about food and clothing, and they have planned a beautiful future prospect that can be touched!

The people's hearts and public opinion, to put it bluntly, whoever can give the people a better life can have this thing!

At this moment, only half of Liaodong under the control of the Pacific Army has a permanent population of two million, with the construction of ** gradually opened, compared with the Qing Dynasty a lot higher wages, has begun to attract the eyes of the surrounding area, I believe that only in a period of time, there will be a large number of immigrants from other provinces to come here, not only to solve the shortage of human resources, but also because of the rich returns, they will become a staunch supporter of the Pacific Army!

But at the moment, the most realistic problem is no longer manpower, but money!

With the acceleration of the Nanyang native coolies, the funding gap has become an urgent need, you must know that a few years ago Honolulu and Ryukyu such a small place spent nearly 10 million pounds, now facing the wider three northeastern provinces, at least ten times the investment!

Of course, Li Enfu had no choice but to spend such a large amount of money, so he began to pester Master Li again, asking him to give full play to his ability to make money, so that the threshold of the Li family compound that had just been renovated was trampled by the officials of the Government Council, and he was so frightened that he didn't even return home, and hid in Port Arthur to supervise the vital Port Arthur expansion project.

Due to the expansion of Port Arthur, the number of ships entering and leaving each day has been strictly limited, and most of the freighters have been evacuated to Andong Port, as well as the temporary Dalian Bay and Yingkou wharves, but even so, as many as ten freighters still come here every day to unload their cargo.

In addition to the Pacific freight companies and naval transport units that transshipped supplies, there were more foreign merchant ships flocking in, especially American ships, and the country above the merchants quickly mobilized supplies to San Francisco through the developed railway network under the huge orders thrown by Li Mo, and then loaded and shipped to the Far East from there.

Of course, the reason why foreign businessmen are so quick this time is not because they support Honolulu, but because they are afraid that once the new Far East war breaks out, Honolulu will not be able to pay for the goods.

So not to mention the American businessmen who were relatively close, even the businessmen of Italy and Turkey were also alarmed, and Li Mo ordered people to place procurement advertisements in the newspapers of various countries, and for a time countless ships poured into the Far East as if they were called, and even Simmons, the guy who got the news, also leased freighters from such South American countries through the relationship of the navy, and loaded fifty ships of supplies at a time and set off three days ago under the protection of two cruisers.

In addition, Lin Yongxiang, who has firmly sat on the throne of the boss of the largest shipping company in the Pacific, has spared no effort to invest in this shipping transfer, and in just a few months, the ports in eastern Liaoning have been full of ships, taking the largest distribution center Andong Port as an example, there are as many as 30 cargo ships entering and leaving each day!

The reason why this is the case, in addition to Li Mo's large-scale investment this time, is also because businessmen know that being able to transport more before the war means more profits, once the war with the Pacific Army starts again.

Oh, God! Can Honolulu really defeat the fleet of eight brand-new battleships?! No one is confident, including many people in the Pacific Army Staff who are skeptical, so this has also accelerated the rapid inflow of external materials, and they all seem to be not optimistic about the Pacific Army and want to take advantage of the opportunity to get a vote.

However, this is exactly what Young Master Li wants to see the most, and he also sent all the materials and machinery purchased by the United States and Europe at once, so that it can also save construction time.

Three Victorian cruise ships slowly approached the Port Arthur docks, and a large number of gendarmes stepped down from the deck to join in the transfer of supplies arriving with the ship.

Chen Ping smiled and walked down the gangway, looking at Port Arthur, which was already unrecognizable compared to his impression, and took a deep breath.

"Where's the old dragon?" After Li Mo greeted him, he didn't find Long Guozhang's figure, and he was a little puzzled.

After Chen Ping handed his luggage to Du Dazhuang, he lit a cigarette before he said with a smile: "He has the intention to come to Lushun, and at this moment, I am afraid that he has already followed the Honolulu to sea." ”

What are you going to sea with an experimental ship?

Li Mo was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that Tang Xiao said not long ago that the military acceptance of the steam turbine was about to begin, and invited him to guide it, but at that time he was busy refitting the warship, and he didn't have time to go, but he didn't expect Long Guozhang to be energetic.

Although the use of steam turbines for civilian power generation began as early as Honolulu and the Ryukyus, the civilian and military standards are inconsistent, and the military models need to undergo more rigorous testing, and the Jinghai project has come to an end, so we are waiting for the results of this acceptance.

Pity.

Li Mo was speechless, the steam turbine is the young master's housekeeping skill, and it is a pity that he did not have the opportunity to participate in the finalization test, but this test also indicates that a new naval revolution has quietly opened in the Pacific Army.

"Young master, don't worry, Tang Xiao has already made a guarantee that there will be no more problems, and the Jinghai plan will definitely be successfully completed." Seeing that Li Mo didn't speak, he thought that the young master was worried about this test, and he knew that the four Jinghai-class light cruisers were a strange soldier to deal with Yu Ben, so he immediately comforted him.

Lose sleep over something?

Li Mo smiled, if it weren't for the fact that the steam turbine he led the design could not reach the manufacturing capacity in the first two years, I am afraid that it would have been installed and tested a long time ago, how could he be worried! So he immediately shook his head and smiled: "I'm thinking, when Nicholas II built so many warships, but found that they were all scrap metal, do you think he would cry?" ”

"It's all scrap metal? How is this possible! Li Mo's words, even Chen Ping's eyes widened in shock, according to the standards of the Pacific Army, it was twenty battleships and twenty heavy cruisers, how could they all become scrap metal overnight!

"Secret!" Facing Chen Ping's longing gaze, Young Master Li laughed.

Faced with these two words, the poor chief of staff felt as if he was stuck in the neck by a fish bone, but no matter how he asked, Young Master Li just didn't want to mention the reason why so many warships could be turned into scrap metal overnight.

He knew that Young Master Li had already made up his mind and was ready to come up with the biggest killer weapon known as the Navy's iron coffin manufacturing ship! The only concern is whether this kind of warship should be built by itself, or should it be ......

Ji'an, located at the junction of Jilin and North Korea in eastern Liaodong, there is a tomb of King Changshou, the twentieth king of the Goguryeo Dynasty, which is called the tomb of the general by the locals, and is quite famous.

The Donghak Party Incident not only did not bring hope to the Korean people, but accelerated the deterioration of relations between the two Koreans, which eventually led to the First Sino-Japanese War.

After the British intervention and the defeat of the naval division, the Qing army finally withdrew from Korea, and although he lost his navy, he finally landed on the long-coveted mainland.

The Yi dynasty was corrupt and extravagant, unable to defend the country, and the tyrannical nature of the army, coupled with the recent intervention of the Russians, caused a large number of Koreans to flee into the northern mountains, and many even entered the three northeastern provinces.

Although the three divisions were scattered into the huge northeastern provinces and could not even bubble up, due to the great shrinkage of the Russian Far East's troops, the army only had two regiments stationed in Heilongjiang as long as it was mainly on guard against the Korean army, and most of the remaining troops were concentrated along the Yalu River.

In the first few days when the Fourth Battalion arrived, people were very curious and worried about this army that carried guns on their backs but did not wear braids and dressed strangely, and the local security chief even organized Minzhuang to guard them at night, but as the Fourth Battalion chose an open space to set up camp and did not offend the town in autumn, everyone's vigilance gradually relaxed.

It wasn't until a few young men came more than a month ago with the documents handed over by the Qing Dynasty to the three northeastern provinces that the chief and everyone knew that now the sky in the north had changed, and this place was already the world of the Pacific Army!

The chief soon became the mayor of the town, and the Koreans who had fled here were gathered together and became coolies who relied on their strength to eat.

Due to its remote location, there is only one horse road leading to Tonghua, and at present, the Government Council is concentrating on the construction of Liaodong, and Jilin and Heilongjiang are mainly surveying and establishing a political axe framework, so the biggest task of the four battalions stationed here at present is to patrol the border, and at the same time cooperate with the Government Council to repair the road from Ji'an to Tonghua.

The North Koreans gathered here provided ample labor resources, and although they could not be compared with Liaodong, the construction team of 3,000 people was already quite small, and the roads were changing every day.

With the propaganda of the first batch of North Korean coolies crossing the river to visit relatives after receiving their wages, more and more North Koreans have crossed the Yalu River in small boats to arrive here in the past few days, hoping to do coolies to repair roads.

In this silent change, a team of horses quietly came to Ji'an.

"Damn, I'm dizzy from this mountain pass, didn't the Government Council say that a cement road should be built here? Why hasn't there been any movement yet? Why don't we apply for a few cars from the young master, how refreshing it will be to drive! Dong Da raised the grass at an altitude and chewed it in his mouth, spitting at the same time.

"You are the construction department of the Government Council, which is opened by your family? See, I'm still digging the roadbed. The familiar partner pointed to the North Korean coolies who were building the road next to him, and rolled his eyes: "Besides, I didn't see the announcement of the Government Council to expand the current three cement factories?" Waiting for the cement road? Five more years! ”

"Five years? That's no problem. Dong Dahai spit out the grass roots and lamented: "Hey, you say, why did the young master send us to Bird Island and drill the ravines?" When will I be able to drive a car and talk to the big girl and the little daughter-in-law, and stop watching you birdmen every day? ”

"Fuck off."

"You're beautiful."

"Just pull it out and kill it."

Dong Dahai's words caused a burst of contempt from the nighthawks next to him, and Li Qiang also laughed jokingly: "What? Want to the crotch of the? Hit the application report, the young master is about to select a thousand officers to enrich the government affairs yuan. If you apply, I'll approve it right away. ”

"Don't mind! Top dog. Dong Dahai hurriedly waved his hand as if he had been stepped on by his tail: "Do you think I look like an official?" It's still comfortable to touch the barrel of the gun. ”

"Haha......."

In the laughter, the horse team gradually drove into the town, like this horse team is not uncommon in the northeast, the town in previous years there are often convoys to buy mountain goods, except for a little more carriages, did not cause much sensation, not to mention that recently there is often the new deal axe to continue to transport food materials here, so everyone is not surprised.

After showing the special pass, the carriage quickly burrowed into the camp of the fourth battalion, which was separated by a wooden fence and in the middle was an adobe barracks, although it was a little simpler, but it was still well protected from the cold and warm.

Looking at the carriage full of oilcloth wrapped in oilcloth, and the nighthawks on guard all around, the curiosity of the fourth battalion commander also shrank back when he reached his mouth, you must know that it is not an ordinary army with that kind of pass, let alone him, the battalion commander, I am afraid that even the regiment commander and division commander do not know how many people there are in this army, and what they are doing in peace.

Seeing this unit, the commander of the fourth battalion was also a little nervous, Li Qiang hurriedly took the initiative to pat the other party's shoulder, and lifted the tarpaulin of the first carriage: "I brought it to you." ”

The soldiers who lifted the tarpaulin around them found that the wagon was full of large wooden boxes of canned goods, including beef, Honolulu's pineapple, and even a large box of cigarettes.

The restraint of the commander of the fourth battalion was blown away with this big gift, and he smiled and said, "Colonel, you didn't come this time to send us these." ”

Li Qiang took out a cigarette and handed it to the battalion commander, lit it with a match and let the smoke spin in his lungs for a while, then slowly raised his head to look at the Yalu River in the distance, hooked the corner of his mouth slightly, patted the battalion commander's shoulder and smiled.

"Get ready, it's time for war again.".

(To be continued)