The rumbling train on the railroad represents hope, and at the end of the railroad is the gaze of the empire from afar.

With the signing of the relevant treaties between the Ming Dynasty and the Confederate government, the Mingmei Railroad became more and more busy.

Grain products labeled "FatteningKing", as well as various small industrial products, were loaded into a section of cars and headed southeast along the tracks.

Of course, the world was not peaceful, and the Ming had to do business with a sword.

On each train, there are soldiers from the third war zone of the Ming Dynasty, dressed in crisp tweed coats, walking with the train, and changing guards and dispatches at key nodes in various parts of the railway.

After the victory of the Pingwei War, Zhu Fugui reorganized the total strength of the Ming Dynasty and set up three theaters.

They are the Korean and Japanese war zones, the central war zone, and the railway war zone.

Among them, the post of governor of the Japanese theater was held by Zheng Baoguo, the former governor of the Japanese Dynasty, and the governor of the Japanese was abolished immediately.

Although Zheng Baoguo, an old comrade, has no outstanding talents, he is stable and cautious.

It is precisely because he knows that his talents are mediocre, Zheng Baoguo always keeps in mind the two whatevers, that is, all the work assigned by the Long Live Lord will be completed without discount, and all the things that the Long Live Lord expressly prohibits will not be touched.

In his work, he cooperated with the Asian Metropolitan Protector to further transform Japanese society.

Ask for more instructions and report more to ensure that the military department and Banzai can grasp the first-hand information of the Far East region at the first time.

At the same time, the troops in the Korean war zone had to change their defenses with the Ming headquarters every two years to avoid the emergence of feudal towns to the greatest extent.

As for changing guards more frequently, it is easy to create a situation in which the soldiers do not know their generals and generals, and this will greatly hurt the combat effectiveness of the troops stationed there.

All in all, what Daming needs is by no means Li Chengliang's second.

Zheng Baoguo, who is old and serious, is the most suitable candidate.

·

The Central Theater is the main theater responsible for the vast majority of the interests of the Ming headquarters, which is directly under the jurisdiction of Zhu Dashuai, and the military department directly participates in the division of labor.

The Central Theater has concentrated the elite divisions of the Ming Royal Army and Navy, and while protecting the interests of the headquarters, it is also necessary to be ready to rush to the Far East at any time.

Compared with the first two war zones, the third war zone of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the railway war zone, is much weaker.

Its governor is Jiang Biao, the former commander of the Second Division of the Royal Army, and the total strength under his command is only 1 B division and 1 special infantry regiment, with a total of 10,000 people.

If you want to make a comparison, the railway governor's yamen is probably equivalent to the Ming and Qing Caoyun governors' yamen.

It's just that the former's combat effectiveness is much stronger.

The Railroad Theater is responsible for safeguarding the sovereignty and economic interests of the 20-mile, or 32.2-kilometer-wide area, on both sides of the Mingmei Railway, and ensuring the safety of the main railway line.

Of course, Zhu Fugui is known as an honest and trustworthy little man, and he has always kept the contract when he does things.

According to the "Tripartite Agreement" two years ago, Brother Li Hongzhang still has a lot of shares in this railway!

Although Li Hongzhang's shares have been less than 3% after several rounds of financing dilution, he still brings him a lot of dividends every year.

After the Ming Dynasty collected the taxes, they handed over the full amount to the Huai army every ten years.

In addition, what even Li Hongzhang himself does not understand is that in fact, he owns more than 3,000 square kilometers of land in North America, which is equivalent to half the area of Shanghai.

He couldn't understand the contract himself, so Zhu Fugui reluctantly managed the land on his behalf.

All in all, on the Ming-American Railway, the Ming Dynasty had huge interests and deserved to set up a special theater of operations to protect it.

·

The town of Franklin is located in Tennessee and is the intersection of the three lines of American control in the east.

Franklin is more than 800 kilometers from Richmond, 1,200 kilometers from New York, and 300 kilometers from Memphis, an important node of the Mingmei Railway.

Such a location puts this humble town in an almost forgotten corner.

Wearing a long gray cloth dress covered in patches, Lena hurriedly knocked on the door of a local manor.

The door creaked open, and it was a black maid.

Tennessee is a quintessential Southern state, and although the state government has made promises to abolish slavery, slavery is still widespread and public.

In fact, as the Negro Knights, under the siege of Robert King Jr., became more and more powerful in the North, the basic base of the abolitionist slavery was getting smaller and smaller.

"Welcome, Miss Lena, my daughter has been waiting for you for a long time, but wouldn't you mind having a drink with me until then?"

"Mr. Cuomo, I'm just Miss Helen's piano teacher."

"Hehe, don't be nervous, I just appreciate your artistic accomplishments."

……

After finishing today's piano lessons, Lena hurriedly left the Cuomo estate.

Recently, Mr. Cuomo, the owner of the manor and a state legislator from Tennessee, has been showing more and more aggressiveness.

Liana could even read the outspoken desire in his eyes.

It scared her.

After walking a few blocks, the streets in front of me became dirty and cramped.

This is where Lena rents.

For a small city like Franklin, it's already the most marginal part of the city.

Squeak –

Lena opened the room, and it was empty.

She expertly lit a kerosene lamp, then tied an apron and prepared to make a fire for cooking.

Soon, two boiled potatoes were cooked.

Lena propped her chin on her hand and stared blankly at the door.

Since she couldn't afford a clock, she couldn't tell the time very accurately.

The dim light in the room was also drowsy.

When the door creaked again, Lena woke up with a sudden agitation.

"Xia Jiang!"

A look of joy appeared on Lena's pale face, and she quickly stood up to greet her husband's return.

However, when the light came through the door enough for Lena to see her husband clearly, she couldn't help but cover her mouth.

The man in front of him, the braids on the back of his head had been scattered, the corners of his left eyebrow were cracked, his lips were swollen, and his whole body was blue and purple, and he was obviously beaten.

"Why are you crying?"

Xia Jiang tried his best to make a look like nothing happened, reached out to wipe away his wife's tears, and then took out a few crumpled and blood-stained banknotes from his arms, "Look, this is my salary today, and our travel expenses are almost all saved!" ”

Instead of taking the money, Lena bit her lip and asked, "Xia, what the hell is going on, who hit you!" ”

"It's nothing, a few slackers can't see that I'm diligent, you know, there's just a little work to be done at the car dealership."

Xia Jiang found a bench and sat down, and said disapprerovingly, "I can't always rely on you to support a big man, speaking of which, is your piano lesson still going well?" ”

"This ......"

Lena wanted to say something about her resignation, but she didn't say it, "Well, everything is going well, let's work together and we will be able to save enough money to get out of here soon." ”

……

Tennessee is a closed place, especially in small towns like Franklin.

A figure like Councilor Cuomo is already the emperor of this small city.

But apart from regular trips to the capital for meetings, he doesn't know much about the outside world.

In later generations, the rednecks of rural America were synonymous with anti-intellectualism, they lacked education, they were indifferent to the world, they did not read books or newspapers, and they did not even know whether the capital of the United States was New York or Washington.

And nowadays, Franklin Town doesn't expect to be informed about any national affairs.

The only newspaper in town, the Franklin Prayer Herald, is basically a newspaper that spreads local gossip, gossip, and religious knowledge.

But all this changed a little bit on this day.

·

"In addition to the nickname, "Detective Zhuge Watson" and "Philosopher's Stone Harry Boda" have resumed serialization in "Daming Times"!"

"Daming Times" adopts Ming craftsmanship, good quality and low price, excellent paper quality, and it is extremely cost-effective to buy it home as wrapping paper!"

"Madam, wouldn't you consider buying a copy of Daming Times?"

A newsboy stopped in front of Liana.