Chapter 421 Wu Tingfang and the Tractor

It was snowing in Chengdu in the twelfth lunar month, which stopped Li Han's arrangement to go north, but he didn't care too much. Sichuan's affairs had accumulated a lot and had not been completely handled. Although Wu Zhaolin is now based in Chongqing, he is a soldier and has accumulated too much affairs in civil affairs. In recent days, Li Han's schedule has been orderly. He reviewed official documents in the morning, went to the recruit camp to inspect and have dinner at noon. After an hour of lunch break, in the afternoon, some celebrities from Chengdu and northern Sichuan, or visited the northwest, and several Sichuan high schools inspected Chengdu's education construction. After dinner, if there is nothing else, take people to the Sichuan Arsenal to follow up on the industrial development of Chengdu.

The official document that Li Han is reviewing is a telegram sent by the General Staff from Wuchang, and the content is nothing more than disarmament. After Jiangsu fell into the hands of Yuan Shikai, the first thing he did was to force Xu Shaozhen to disarmament in Jiangsu. Xu Shaozhen obediently implemented President Yuan's disarmament order. Since taking office as the governor of Su at the end of the year, he cut off an elite division and place that Huang Xing had finally retained within one month. There were a total of fourteen old battalions in northern Jiangsu. Among them, the backbone was either young revolutionaries in the Fuxing Army, or *** Party members, or Zhang Xun and other forces. This move was indeed pleased by President Yuan, and ordered him to be promoted to General of the Army and received the First Class Wenhu and First Class Jiahe Medal.

Of course, the local forces in Jiangsu would not be willing, but at this time, Song Jiaoren personally called Yuan Shikai to negotiate with him and finally chose to compromise. With Xu Shaozhen's leading role, and the six Beiyang divisions had completely recovered their combat effectiveness at this time, and the newly formed four divisions were already very useful. The troops of ten divisions under his command were held in the Central Plains. Because of Li Han's leading role, the disarmament plan that had almost no effect last year was re-proposed by Yuan Shikai, and the finger was directed at Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, and Li Han.

It is obvious that the large loan has made breakthrough progress. The United Military Government's personnel in Jiangsu found out that Xu Shaozhen was appreciated by Yuan Shikai for his contribution to the disarmament. A promissory note of 150,000 yuan from Dehua Bank had been delivered to him. Xu Shaozhen naturally knew that he had completely offended the party members because of the disarmament. After taking office as governor, in addition to recruiting old subordinates, he bought 4,000 new guns and equipment from the *** people. Yuan Shikai also turned a blind eye to this. Instead, he urged Zhu Rui, Li Liejun, Bai Wenwei, Cai E, Tang Jiyao and others to disarmament, and ordered the mobilization of troops to Zhili, Shandong and Shanxi, and changed his previous attitude and urged Henan and Li Han to disarmament.

To be honest, the military government now has a lot of financial pressure on 100,000 soldiers. Even if it is not a war, the six-month expenses will be around 5 million yuan under normal circumstances. If Li Han had not often played with his left hand and changed his right hand to replenish some supplies from the secret treasury of railway loans and confiscating the flag-producing property, this number alone could crush the treasury of the military government. However, although the Ministry of Finance does not need to be responsible for military expenditure and other issues, the secret treasury in his hands is also used a little less. Thanks to the black gold of counterfeit money, he can support a team of 100,000 people. Li Han's pen quickly criticized the official document.

It is said that Yuan Shikai is coming in a fierce manner and is mainly coercive to him, but his main target of attack was Henan, so he is not prepared to resist this test from the central government. Don’t forget that he has about one-third of the territory of the five provinces. In addition to the formal organization of up to 100,000 people, various places have also established security forces to be responsible for suppressing the ground. Most of the organization has certain security risks, including many of the enlisted forces transformed into arms. It just so happened that he could completely lay off half of them in one breath with the central government’s disarmament order, and there would be about 14,000 people.

Li Han believed that as long as he nodded and dismissed the army, Yuan Shikai would not ask whether he was slashing the issue of whether he was a regular army or a miscellaneous army. He had this confidence. First, Li Han was concerned about the central government, so why did the central government care about the army in his hands? Second, Shanxi now has only one division and one brigade, but Yuan Shikai assembled four divisions in Zhili and Shandong, and two of them had moved to the boundary of Henan Province. The purpose was obvious to avoid him and solve the problem of unifying the north of Henan and connecting his sphere of influence.

The elections in various places have not become quiet because of the arrival of winter. The Republican Party has used its inaction in the first month to show that Li Han, the second force in the Republic of China, has given up the election. Therefore, the main battles are only Liang Qichao's Democratic Party and Song Jiaoren's ***. As for the other parties, they have only occasionally made a formality and have been overwhelmed by the two major forces. In fact, if they put themselves in the shoes of Yuan Shikai, he, as the president of the Republic of China, was not easy. Not only did he face the threat of foreign ministers, but he also had to face the provocations of domestic opposition forces. On the surface, the Beiyang Group is his arm, but if the international and domestic situation changes drastically, the Beiyang Group may not have dismantled his Taiwan.

There is no way, the country is poor and the people are numb. Now in a time of great change, those with a little ambition want to go on stage and become the protagonist of his attention. Who would like to always be a supporting role? Under the seemingly calm domestic political situation of the Republic of China, there is a great crisis hidden. Not everyone can be competent in the Republic of China leaders in this chaotic era. History has proved that Yuan Shikai has enough methods and wisdom is also superior. However, if he is too ambitious and has too short his eyes, he will eventually fall on the throne of supreme power. It is impossible to lead this country to stability and prosperity. Then, Li Han must work harder to complete the takeover of this country when Yuan Shikai falls.

The future of the country is in his own hands, and he dare not be lazy at all. The official document more than half a foot thick on this table is the image of his diligence.

The charcoal fire in the house still emits heat continuously. Before Li Han could finish reviewing the documents accumulated on the table, a noise came from outside the house. Then his adjutant came in to report that Mr. Wu Tingfang was here.

"Old Wu, why don't you notify me in advance when you come. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. It's said that the snow falls for three days, and the wind outside makes the face hurt! "

Because the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway has only laid a section of rails near Chongqing and Chengdu, and the *** people have regretted it halfway, the transportation between Chongqing and Chengdu still mainly depends on animal power and inland waterway shipping. In addition, it is difficult to walk on the road in the twelfth lunar month. Unlike Li Han who transferred to military horses along the way, Wu Tingfang was late for a while before he arrived in Chengdu. After hearing the call of the adjutant, Li Han immediately got up, processed the official documents on the table and walked out the door, and welcomed Wu Tingfang in person.

Seeing Wu Tingfang coming with a young man, he saw a few more people and found that he had no impression. He just thought it was his entourage or nephew in his later life, and he didn't care much about it.

"I've seen the inspector!"

Wu Tingfang clasped his fists and said politely that Li Han had seen Wu Tingfang's photos in the newspaper, but he did not look at him regardless of etiquette. After all, there was an age gap between the two. It was an impolite behavior for a junior to look at his senior. He glanced at him at first sight, but Wu Tingfang, who saw him for the first time, looked at him for a while and found that the newspaper described him as his outstanding appearance was indeed extraordinary, especially his height of 1.9 meters or solemn military boots, is rarely seen in the country today. No one can ignore his existence when standing in the crowd.

Some time ago, Li Han left Chongqing, but Wu Tingfang was trapped by a group of local councillors for a while. He either socializes or receives visits every day. If he hadn't always wanted to take time to see the appearance of Chongqing Steel promoted in the newspaper, the few people wouldn't have been waiting for so long to arrive in Chengdu. Fortunately, although Li Han invited him the position of the Chief of the Civil Affairs Office of Gansu for him, he did not force him to arrive at the place when he would arrive. Therefore, now he is happy to go north slowly.

Li Han gave enough respect to this old man who made a lot of books in modern history. Even though he, a Republican director, almost never asked or replied, Li Han did not give up pulling him under his command, because the connections he had in his hands really made him moved. Although he understood from the heart that most of the relationship behind Wu Tingfang would be likely to go against him and become enemies.

He invited the two of them into the house and ordered the guards to pour incense tea. Wu Tingfang then pointed at Gu Weijun and said, "This is my nephew. Today I bring the trouble to the inspector. I hope you don't want to be surprised! Shaochuan, come and greet the inspector!"

Gu Weijun understood and stepped forward to greet him, "I have met the inspector! Gu Weijun is here!"

Another celebrity in the Republic of China.

Li Handuo glanced at him and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Mr. Shaochuan. Why do I look familiar? I heard that Shaochuan once studied international law and diplomacy at Columbia University in the United States and obtained a doctorate degree. He is more talented than me. Haha, if Mr. Shaochuan doesn't dislike it, our western region is now at a time of great development, and there are many opportunities to deal with foreigners. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also lacks qualified talents. If the teacher does not dislike talent, Li hopes that Mr. Shaochuan can consider it!"

The two were slightly surprised. Unexpectedly, Li Hangui was the supreme leader of the five western provinces and regions, and was a powerful figure second only to Yuan Shikai in the Republic of China. He knew so clearly about Gu Weijun, a character who was not a person in China, although his father-in-law was former cabinet prime minister Tang Shaoyi.

"It seems that this inspector is not simple either!"

Wu Tingfang and the other two looked at each other and suddenly felt that Li Han became a little unfathomable.

Gu Weijun dared not be praised by him, so he quickly stood up and said ashamed, but he avoided his favor and did not refute his face.

Li Han was not surprised and continued: "Yi Zhi would like to thank Mr. Wu for not disgusting the desolate western part of our country. Although we are determined to build, although the domestic talents are numerous, most of them are staring at the wealthy areas in the southeast and the south. However, if this continues, it will inevitably lead to the large gap between the people in the north and the east and west, which will lead to the poor people in the north and the south, and the people in the north and the people in the west, and the people in the west are not as good as the people in the west. You should know that although the coastal areas occupy the right time and place, when it comes to resources, minerals are not as good as the north, the west, and the northwest. Yi Zhi would like to lead the billions of people in the west to seek prosperity together, but personal strength will eventually be poor. Thank Mr. Wu for not disgusting poverty in Gansu, and comes to our west to take the lead as the Chief Minister of Civil Affairs of Gansu."

Wu Tingfang browed for a moment, but he didn't care about the big hat he was talking about. However, when he came, he didn't mean to be the chief minister of the Gansu Civil Affairs Bureau. According to him, he might as well go and see what Li Han sold in the gourd. However, he was preparing to see if he would be constrained after he got to the place, so as not to ask for money or not, and he would also like to manage Gansu.

However, now Li Han's words have blocked him from taking a formality.

Wu Tingfang was not able to face the rejection, so he had to say, "Thank you for your kindness to the President. But Wu is a little uninformed, but he still needs to go to Gansu to see if he takes over this position. The inspector has the ambition of being a good person, but I am older and my mind is increasingly unable to keep up with the times. I am afraid that the inspector will delay the inspector and the millions of people in Gansu will be delayed. Therefore, please forgive me, the old man dare not explicitly say that he will take over the position of Chief of Civil Affairs of Gansu, but he still has to look at it in practice to determine whether my ability is enough!"

Wu Tingfang is not simple either. The art of practicing Tai Chi and rejection has become perfect. Li Han was displeased on his face, but he nodded very casually, "This is natural... Please wait..."

He stood up and searched his desk for a while, found a document and took it out, and handed it to Wu Tingfang, "Old Wu, although Gansu is poor, it is a man-made disaster, and the other is a man-made disaster, and the other is a government inaction for hundreds of years. The man-made disaster is that the conflict between the Han and Hui tribes is irreconcilable. Please don't worry about this. After the beginning of spring, I have 20,000 troops to advance westward. One way to open a channel to the ***, the other way will quell the chaos in Qinghai and clear all obstacles in the province for Wu Lao. Second, since the Republic of China has been newly established,

Everything needs new. We need to wipe our eyes clean and see the advantages and strengths of foreigners and foreigners, and then build our New Republic of China. Please see here. From Xi'an to Lanzhou and even westward, we need to build a large railway to open up transportation between Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. There is also a railway between Lanzhou and Chengdu here. Going westward, after the military government sets down Qinghai and ***, we will extend these two railways. Many Li like to talk big

People, we have already prepared the railway construction funds, and even some areas have begun to lay sleepers. Gansu is close to Qinghai and Inner Mongolia, and there are millions of herders in the two places. Every year due to the arrival of winter, up to millions of cattle and sheep will die in the cold winter. In the end, there is no way to eat meat except fur, so we have to throw it away or make it for the jackals. This is undoubtedly a very wasteful thing. According to statistics from the military government, every year due to the cold winter, local herders will lose up to three or four hundred.

Wan. The military government plans to build two large beef and mutton canned processing factories here. Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, there have been three leather and garment factories that have completed the site selection and construction. We have ordered the machines with foreigners in October last year. If it weren’t for the inconvenient transportation on the road, it wouldn’t have been delayed for so long. But please rest assured, these batches of machines are expected to be delivered to Gansu in April. By then, just these factories can generate up to four or five million or even higher annually."

If Li Han did not make good use of the special geographical locations in Shaanxi and Gansu, he would have come to this era. In everyone's opinion, Gansu and Shaanxi were poor, but who would have thought that the two major animal husbandry tribes next to Hui and *** tribes were a province that was conducive to the development of deep processing of animal husbandry. Li Han could see clearly. Therefore, although roads and traffic temporarily hindered the development of the local area, as long as he was willing to take the first step and was willing to take a few more steps, the golden ripe fruit was in front of him.

"this..."

Wu Tingfang followed his fingers and let go of his thoughts on the document on the northward map. Even when he heard his ambitions for Qinghai and ***, he was slightly stunned. After a long time, he smiled bitterly and clasped his fists, "The inspector's commander..."

But there is not much confidence on his face.

Li Han knew that this was because the poverty and poverty in Gansu and other places had not happened for a year or two, and outsiders did not have his confidence.

He smiled and walked back to his desk, opened the drawer and took out a can of iron, and came to the two of them.

"Two, aren't this thing unfamiliar?"

The two shook their heads and saw the big words "Hubei Canning Factory" imprinted from the machine above, which were the canned lunch meat made by the military government's canning factory.

Li Han smiled, walked to the stove, opened the kettle, put it in. The water temperature inside was not low. After a while, he took out the can and ordered the knife, plate and chopsticks to be taken out, and then took out the can and poured out the hot lunch beef inside. The aroma of the beef was fragrant.

“Try it, it tastes great!”

He smiled and picked up a piece to eat. Because sometimes he would miss the meal time when working overtime, he prepared some cans for himself to eat when he was hungry when he was working.

Wu Tingfang and the other two were curious, and they picked up a few pieces and ate them as they were like this, and their eyes lit up immediately.

"What a special taste, it seems to be a little different from steamed beef. This... is this really beef?"

Wu Tingfang was a little unimaginable, no wonder that this lunch meat would not appear until World War II. Li Han took great pains to develop the industry under his rule, and almost all the ideas he could think of were used. Even the instant noodles military government has now entered the end of its development and is waiting for the arrival of ordering machines.

"Real beef... This is the main product produced by the canned factory I mentioned. Now, due to the lack of machines, the cans we mainly use to produce are all supplementing the nutrients needed for high-intensity training for military soldiers. In fact, I have received many rich people and have eaten this kind of canned food very happily. The military government even gave it to many forces as a gift, and they have received praise from the intersection. Once the machine arrives in the Gansu factory, the technicians who are receiving intensified production training in Hubei Province can distribute more than a thousand people, which can fully meet the needs of several factories. Moreover, the production cost of this thing is not high, but sales can create several times or even dozens of times the cost. The most important thing is that we hired a lot of foreigners to try it out and found that they are more interested in this kind of thing and can be sold to foreigners in the future. There is no worry about not having it.

Market! The one I mentioned to Mr. Wu just now can contribute four or five million yuan a year in a year, but it is a preliminary estimate, and it should be higher. In addition, in Gansu and other places, we have also discovered some copper, gold and silver mines and other minerals, which will be developed in the future. Financial support and machines, Mr. Wu doesn’t need to worry. I negotiated with foreigners here. I just hope that after Mr. Wu arrives in Gansu, he can restrain the officials in the province and supervise that there must be no corruption, corruption and corruption in the province, because once it is discovered, the military government will deal with it strictly and severely. The enemy that needs to be vigilant at the beginning of the establishment of a regime is not from the outside, but from the internal people. We cannot tolerate the revolution that has not been completely successful, and before the Republic of China has become prosperous and strong, it is destroyed in the hands of our own people. This is my principle!”

He spoke very slowly and seriously. After saying that, he looked at Wu Tingfang solemnly. After a while, the old man nodded slowly and finally agreed to take office as the Chief Minister of Civil Affairs of Gansu.

After seeing off the two of them, Li Han simply used some things in the afternoon and formed according to the previous schedule. Under the escort of the guards, he rushed to the newly built "Chengdu Tractor Factory" in the north of the city.

Since ancient times, many people have tried to replace human and screw chillers with mechanical force to farm. However, it was not until Europe entered the steam engine era in the 19th century that the birth of power-based agricultural machinery was possible.

In the 1830s, some people began to study the use of steam trucks to traction agricultural machinery for field operations. However, the steam engine traction vehicles (the predecessor of steam tractors) that could be built at that time were like a water train. Even if it was not stuck in the field, it would press the soil very strong and could not be cultivated at all. In 1851, Faras and Smith in the UK used steam engines to realize mechanical farming in farmland for the first time.

The earliest steam-powered tractors were invented by Frenchman Alabarte and American Parwin in 1856 and 1873 respectively.

The tractor was initially built and was slow and bulky, which was completely inconvenient to use. However, with the development of technology, this situation also changed fundamentally. In 1889, the Chada Engine Company in Chicago, USA, manufactured the world's first agricultural tractor for gasoline internal combustion engines - the "Baga". Subsequently, Lombard, the United States, in 1901, invented the first track with good practical effects. Three years later, the American engineer Holt used Lombard's invention to design and manufacture the "77" steam tractor. On November 24, 1904, the "77" steam tractor was tested for the first time and later put into mass production. In 1906, Holt

The tractor manufacturing company founded also created the world's earliest crawler tractor powered by gasoline internal combustion engines. Although Sweden, Germany, Hungary and the United Kingdom had almost simultaneously manufactured tractors powered by diesel internal combustion engines since the early 20th century, the emergence of this machine caused a large number of farmers to be unemployed. Although farmers and nobles in Europe and the United States hoped to use tractors in large quantities to replace farmers for production, governments consider that farmers' unemployment will lead to social turmoil, and some countries even explicitly legislated legislation to restrict the use of tractors in agriculture, resulting in the production and sales of tractors in various countries in recent years.

Li Han knew this history and also knew that the great development of tractors would be in the middle and late stages of World War I. With the reasons of the war, insufficient labor and rising agricultural product prices finally promoted the development of farm tractors. However, it was only 1913, and there were still one and a half years before World War I and more than two years before the great development of tractors. He had been greedy for land war weapons such as tanks and armored vehicles for a long time, and he had begun to lay out the tractor production line, the predecessor of the "tank", a long time ago, and has made leap forward.
Chapter completed!