Chapter 18: Construction of the Plank Road in Ming (2)

The statements in the Northwest were shocked not only by the authorities and those who were concerned about the historical events of the early Republic of China disclosed, but also by knowledgeable people from all walks of life in China, as well as Japanese who felt the strong hostility of the Northwest.

Since September 18th, the Nanjing authorities have lost their troops and lost their territory, and the retreat and compromise have made the Chinese people deeply disappointed with it. Although other domestic forces have also shouted anti-Japanese slogans, the 19th Route Army was completely reorganized by Chiang Kai-shek after the Fujian Incident, and Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai and others travel abroad; and last year, the CCP was forced to leave Jiangxi by Chiang Kai-shek and began to fight everywhere; to this day, the only people's army in the northwest still stands tall under the heavy encirclement of the Nanjing authorities.

In just a few years, the People's Army not only stood firm in the northwest, a place with sparse population, harsh conditions, and complex situations of various ethnic groups, but also repeatedly defeated the Nanjing authorities' advances and suppression, and is still advancing to Xinjiang, Qinghai and other places. Thinking of the statements of the Northwest during the Great Wall's War of Resistance and the inspiring songs circulating there, people from all walks of life have begun to face up to the power of the Northwest. With the authorities compromising and concessions, selling their country to decent Japan, and suppressing the people's calls for anti-Japanese resistance, perhaps, the Northwest will be the hope of China's anti-Japanese resistance in the future.

Two days apart, on August 1, Wang Ming and others, who were permanently stationed in the Soviet Union, published the "Letter to All Compatriots for the Resistance of Japan and the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Union, in the name of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Union, also known as the "August 1 Declaration". However, this declaration was published abroad, and was first published in the 10th issue of the Chinese "National Saving News" published by the Communist Party of China in Paris on October 1, 2015. Its historical status and significance were only expanded through propaganda after the victory of the Communist Party of China. However, in the summer and autumn of 2015, this declaration had no impact at home.

The Chinese people's hope for the northwest is increasing, and the Japanese have also begun to include the northwest as their target. Judging from the current situation, the Northwest People's Army is a powerful player in the current anti-government armed forces in China. It has defeated the attack organized by the Nanjing authorities several times and issued a clear call for anti-Japanese resistance, which is something that the Japanese cannot sit idly by.

On August 3, Takahashi Tan, deputy military officer of the Japanese Embassy in China, arrived in Taiyuan and visited Yan Xishan. Takahashi Tan arrived in Taiyuan, and originally only held Yan Xishan to win over Yan Xishan and encouraged him to join forces with Japan to prepare for Japan's full control of North China. However, before departure, Takahashi Tan learned about the statement and editorial issued by the Northwest, and had another purpose: to collect relevant information about the Northwest as much as possible. If possible, send people to explore the information inside him to prepare for future control of North China and advance into the Northwest.

After a irrelevant scene, Takahashi Tan expressed his purpose. Although Yan Xishan was a little moved, he thought about Takahashi Tan's statement that the Japanese supported Yan Xishan to gain dominance in North China.

Just kidding, if you really agree to the Japanese, and don’t say that you are a traitor hat on your head, the People’s Army in the northwest of Shanxi and the Central Army in the south, Liu Jingfu, will definitely send troops to deal with Yan Xishan. Of course, it is not Yan Xishan’s style to clearly reject the Japanese. At this moment, Yan Xishan laughed and said, “You really look down on me, but there are many forces around Shanxi that I can’t allow me to be careless. This way, as long as you can convince Han Xiangfang from Shandong and Song Mingxuan from Pingjin agree, I agree too.”

At the end of June, the Central Army, Northeast Army and other troops had successively evacuated Pingjin, Hebei and other places. Bai Jianwu, Pan Yugui, and others instructed by the Japanese army, gathered a group of people to marchem Beiping as the "Justice Autonomous Army". Although the incident was soon mobilized by the Pingjin garrison commander Wang Shuchang to calm down, the Central Army retreated south and the Northeast Army was about to evacuate. What should we do if the defense in Pingjin and other places do?

Without troops available, the Beiping Army Branch had to agree to Feng Zhi'an's 37th Division of the 29th Army's 37th Division to enter Beiping. From then on, the 29th Army actually controlled Beiping, Tianjin, Hebei, Chahar and other places. In this way, among the forces in North China, in addition to Yan Xishan, Han Fuju from Shandong, and Shang Zhen from Baoding, there was another Song Zheyuan who actually controlled the 29th Army.

However, Song Zheyuan, the head of the 29th Army, was angry at Tianjin for revoking the post of Chairman Song Chahar on the 19th because Chiang Kai-shek had rebelled, and went to Tianjin to become an apartment man. At that time, Song Zheyuan was so angry that he faced Zhang Zizhong and others who came to see him off that he publicly declared: "Whoever believes in Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Japanese war will be a fool."

After Song's words spread, Chiang Kai-shek was naturally extremely embarrassed. But when the 29th Army entered Peiping at the end of June, Chiang Kai-shek found that he was in a bit embarrassing situation in dealing with the North China issue.

At the beginning, after receiving the ultimatum from Sakai Takashi on June 9 that he added his personal goods, He Yingqin called Nanjing Wang Zhaoming and Chiang Kai-shek respectively. Chiang Kai-shek was in Sichuan at the time, but he immediately called back, opposing the Central Army's retreat to the south, and clearly pointed out that "it should be firmly rejected and it is impossible to accept." Chiang Kai-shek even analyzed the benefits and interests of the Central Army's retreat to the south: "It is not only impossible to eliminate the disaster, but it increases the reasons for the tricky", "There are even more remarks to borrow from Guangdong and Guangxi", and "the people have great breach of faith."

However, Wang Zhaoming and others from Nanjing were confused in front of Takashi Sakai's ultimatum. After convening a political meeting and studying it, they believed that as long as the Japanese army did not clearly occupy Pingjin, the Central Army's retreat to the south would be less harmful than the two sides to start a war. After making such a conclusion, Wang Zhaoming telegraphed He Yingqin: The Central Army could retreat to the south.

Faced with two telegrams with the opposite contents of Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Zhaoming, He Yingqin thought about it, but chose to act according to Wang's telegram order. From this perspective, it was not too unfair to He Yingqin's later accused of selling off the country due to the He Mei Agreement. Of course, the Central Army and the Northeast Army retreated south one after another, and North China lacked troops, so it was not surprising that the 29th Army took advantage of loopholes.

The previous order of Chiang Kai-shek to transfer the 29th Army to the south was not implemented. Now the 29th Army has entered Pingjin and other places, filling the gap of the Central Army. After the Northeast Army retreated south, it not only stabilized the local people's hearts, but also won praise from all walks of life. Now the Central Army cannot go north again, and Yan Xishan, Han Fuju, and Shang Zhen are not more reliable than Song Zheyuan. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek could only put the hope of stabilizing North China on Song Zheyuan.

However, Song Zheyuan, who was an apartment man in Tianjin, was unwilling to answer the olive branch that Chiang Kai-shek sent through certain channels. He just said that whoever believes Chiang is a fool is a fool, can't just slap himself in the blink of an eye, right? In that case, the commander of Song was too embarrassed. So he played a trick of refusing and waiting with Chiang in Tianjin through telegram. In the end, the Nanjing authorities appointed Song Zheyuan as the commander of the garrison in Pingjin on August 28, but Song Zheyuan delayed until September 21 before taking office.

At present, facing Takahashi Tan's instigation, Yan Xishan used Han Fuju and Song Zheyuan as a shield, which was just a slander. However, Takahashi Tan did not understand the mystery and thought Yan Xishan did not want to take the lead, so he made up his mind to persuade Song and Han would then find Yan Xishan.

In fact, before arriving in Shanxi, Takahashi Tan had already met Shang Zhen in Baoding on August 2, hoping that Shang Zhen would cooperate with Japan to control North China. Shang Zhen also received warmly and said it was very good, and said that as long as Yan Xishan, Shanxi, Song Zheyuan, and Han Fuju from Shandong could agree first, Shang would naturally follow him. Therefore, Takahashi Tan was pushed to Taiyuan with one pole.

"Can Director Yan send someone to the northwest with me to see it? I want to know the situation about the People's Army." Takahashi Tan repeated his request again, "The People's Army is so hostile to the Great Japanese Empire, which is something that the Imperial soldiers cannot tolerate."

"I can't do this request." Yan Xishan shook his head repeatedly, "The People's Army is hostile to our headquarters and is also hostile to Japan. If I send people into its defense zone, once it is discovered, it will definitely be a dead end. Besides, as a Japanese member, if you are discovered by the People's Army, the result may be worse. I cannot take this danger."

Yan Xishan has a firm attitude, looking at the safety of Takahashi Tan. But in fact, Yan Xishan thought more profoundly: if the People's Army said, once the People's Army discovered that he would not be able to escape the charge of colluding with the Japanese army, the People's Army must send troops to cause trouble in Shanxi; and if something happened in Shanxi, whether Japan resolved the diplomatic solution or sent troops to force Shanxi, his Taiyuan Pacification Office director would definitely do the final result, and Shanxi would be even more chaotic, and even the entire North China and even the entire Sino-Japanese relations may undergo earth-shaking changes. These consequences are not something that Yan Xishan, who is determined to be stable now, can afford.

Seeing that Takahashi Tan wanted to speak, Yan Xishan hurriedly blocked him: "As long as I am still responsible for Shanxi, I will never let Japanese friends have accidents here."

After hearing Yan Xishan's words, Takahashi Tan was moved when he saw his sincere expression: "Yan Sang is worthy of being a good friend of the empire, no wonder Chief Itagaki has so much anticipation for you." He drew a thumbs up at Yan Xishan, Takahashi Tan asked unwillingly: "Is there really no way to imagine?"

"I studied in Japan and knew each other well." Yan Xishan didn't want to talk deeply about the relationship with Itagaki, so he continued, "To be honest, I sent the Jinsui Army to participate in the operation to suppress the People's Army a few years ago. This is also the reason why they attacked northwest Shanxi at the end of last year. We are now in hostility, and the people I sent were not in a good end after they were discovered."

Yan Xishan sighed pretending to behave, his face full of pain: "In the past six months after the truce, I have sent nearly a hundred people to northwest Shanxi and other places, but most of them have gone without returning. The few who came back later died of serious injuries."

After hearing what Yan Xishan said so seriously, Takahashi Tan also gave up the idea of ​​going to the northwest to explore in person. As a samurai, even if you die, you are valuable. You have more important things to do in the future, so you can't make any mistakes at this time. Takahashi Tan convinced himself and asked, "Since the People's Army is so hateful, why are you both sides ceased to fight?"

"That's because there are thousands of Americans and Germans in the Baode Industrial Zone. In order to avoid irreparable international consequences, I had to order the troops to suspend the operation to recover northwest Shanxi." Even Takahashi Tan couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Without wanting to continue talking nonsense with Takahashi Tan, Yan Xishan said again: "The few who came back from the northwest and died of serious injuries have said something useful, but it is just about the policies implemented by the People's Army. If you are interested, I can ask someone to prepare a copy for you."

"Then please." Takahashi Tan actually bowed to him by Yan Xishan's thoughtfulness.

After a series of foolings, Takahashi Tan sent Takahashi Tan. After Takahashi Tan left, Xu Yongchang, Yang Aiyuan and others who accompanied Yan Xishan to meet each other looked strange, and they opened their eyes today.

Yan Xishan looked at everyone and naturally understood what they were thinking. He sighed quietly: "The traitor cannot be done. That is a humiliating ancestors, but the Central Army has retreated south. We cannot force ourselves to do it now. We can only use this trick of not being able to enter the elegant hall."

True and false, Yan Xishan's words contained an unspeakable helplessness. Everyone present also looked awe-inspiring.

However, the Japanese did not give up their attention to Shanxi. In addition to wanting to further understand the reality of the People's Army through the Taiyuan authorities, they mainly wanted to instigate Yan Xishan to participate in the future North China Autonomous Plan.

On August 12, Japanese Kwantung Army staff member Ishimoto flew to Taiyuan to meet with Yan Xishan.

Perhaps because they did not see much effect in winning over Yan Xishan, the Japanese side also began to take action against Suiyuan. On August 29, Takahashi Tan and Yushan arrived in Guisui. After meeting Fu Zuoyi, they arrived in Baotou on the 30th. In addition to visiting the local military and political chief, Takahashi Tan and Yushan were more concerned about the geographical and human feelings in Suiyuan.

The Japanese ambitions for North China were exposed step by step, and they went further and further on the road to invasion of China.

In late August, Zhao Zhenzhong began to pay attention to the disasters around the northwest and the entire north.

Judging from the disaster situation in recent decades, the national flood in 31 years was the biggest flood, the 34 years was the biggest drought, and the 35 years were the two largest flood and drought disasters combined with the two largest flood and drought disasters in 31 years and 34 years. Due to the two-pronged approach of water and drought disasters, the past records have been broken.

During this year, Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Suiyuan, Chahar, Shandong, northern Jiangsu, and northern Anhui, from the beginning of spring to the beginning of summer, there were abnormal droughts, including wind, hail, insects, and epidemics. Droughts also occurred in some areas of Hubei, Sichuan, Zhejiang and other provinces. After the beginning of summer, these areas that had suffered from drought flooded, turning drought into floods.

In addition, Guangdong, Fujian, Guizhou, Ningxia and other provinces are also suffering from floods, and the worst floods are the eight provinces including Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Jiangsu in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. According to incomplete statistics after the disaster, the number of affected counties in the eight provinces mentioned above has reached 241, with a disaster area of ​​139,100 square kilometers, with a disaster-stricken number of victims reaching more than 21.98 million, and the direct property losses are conservatively estimated to be more than 77.6 million yuan.

In fact, before the summer, before the flood occurred, the drought victims in various places had already had a hard time living. On May 16, a reporter reported that Shanghai raised drought relief associations from various provinces to receive 52 kinds of food sent by the victims to fill their hunger. Among the so-called 52 kinds of "foods", in addition to chaff, bark, leaves, roots, grass roots, and grass, they also include Guanyin soil, weathered fossils, fairy mud, etc., which can cause people to swell to death.

The disaster situation in many provinces is shocking. Due to the complete water conservancy facilities in the areas controlled by the People's Army, in addition to the areas along the Taoshui coast of Gansu, which have suffered 200,000 people, the other is that the spring drought in northern Shaanxi is more severe and the summer grain production is reduced a lot. However, this production reduction is compared with other areas controlled by the People's Army. If compared with previous years in northern Shaanxi, the output will exceed much.

In history, Gansu suffered much more disasters in 35 years. According to relevant records, on July 1, 2015, the precipitation in Lanzhou reached more than 9 feet, breaking decades of records. Ningxia was even more flooded because the Yellow River flooded after the fall, resulting in the cracks of Jinji, Jiongwu, Ningxia, Ningshuo, Pingluo and other counties. Hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land were flooded, and more than 100,000 victims were homeless and had no food and clothing.

Now, despite the huge waters and extremely large precipitation in the Yellow River, in the face of complete water conservancy projects and full disaster relief preparations, Gansu and Ning provinces have been safe and even won a good harvest in the year of major disasters.

The harvest was achieved in the year of great disasters, which made the people in the northwest very happy and were increasingly grateful for the good news of the People's Army and the government. Compared with the degree of disasters in other provinces heard from the radio and the miserable lives of the victims, the cohesion and centripetal force of the people in the northwest region have been further enhanced, and the enthusiasm for construction has also increased.

Although Zhao Zhenzhong was happy after reading the statistics of the agricultural production and disaster situation in the northwest reported by Tian Yunyi and others, although he was happy, he did not feel much relaxed. There are 21 provinces and regions across the country, with nearly 22 million people suffering from the disaster, and the number of victims in Ji, Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi alone exceeded 10.5 million. With such a huge number of victims, even if Zhu Qinglan cooperated with Huamei Company, the Nanjing authorities would have been green all the way, but due to the capacity, they could only transfer about 4 million people to the northwest this year.

In this era, Zhao Zhenzhong could introduce internal combustion locomotives and fuel from abroad through Huamei Company at any cost to increase the speed of material and personnel transportation. However, the domestic railway system is generally backward. Except for the small number of load-bearing cars owned by Huamei China Branch, most train cars in China have a dual-axle structure with a load capacity of only more than 20 tons. Although Huamei Company can increase the number of carriages with a large load capacity, the railway tracks and roadbeds of domestic railways may not be able to withstand the passage of all-weather heavy-duty trains due to the original design standards.

Taking the Luokou Iron Bridge near Jinan on the Jinpu Line as an example, this bridge, which was completed on November 16, 1912, was still being used in the 21st century after electrification, but there were only 28 pairs of trains passing through the day. In 1935, the signal command and dispatch of the entire railway system, especially the night driving dispatch, was very backward, and it would be good to be able to pass through the train 10 pairs per day. This is the Jinpu Line, which has relatively busy transportation, and the relatively remote Pingsui Line has a worse transportation capacity.

In the summer of 1933, after Zhao Zhenzhong introduced several internal combustion locomotives from abroad, he thought that five direct trains could be driven from Tianjin to Baode every day and night, but the Beining Railway Bureau at that time disagreed. In addition to the fact that there was a holiday with Yin Tong, director of the Beining Railway Bureau, it was also because the Pingsui Line had only about 10 pairs of trains per day at that time, and the authorities could not dispatch half of the vehicles to Huamei. In the end, he also obtained permission to drive three trains per night. Lao Zhichang also privately told Zhao Zhenzhong that due to design standards, it would be good that the Pingsui Line could pass three pairs of heavy-duty trucks per day, and no matter how many it was, it would definitely speed up the subgrade settlement.

Of course, it is precisely because of this reason that Zhao Zhenzhong had to strengthen the roadbed and lay heavy rails at the beginning of the construction of the railway in the northwest to prepare for the future opening of trains with a load of 40 tons and 60 tons.

At present, using the two railways of Pingjin and Pingsui, according to the daily 3 heavy-duty trains that can be passed through Huamei, each train is calculated to 40 sessions, and the daily material transportation volume is only 4,800 tons. Considering the vehicle maintenance, weather and other reasons, the monthly material transportation volume can reach 140,000 tons, which is the limit. If the food per ton of grain can be used for 10 people for half a year, the monthly transportation volume can be used for 1.4 million people for half a year. This can only be considered a drop in the bucket for the number of disaster victims in the north. If the transportation of disaster victims occupies vehicles, the relevant number will also decrease.

Fortunately, as long as the victims arrive in the neighboring areas of the northwest, things will be much easier. At least the northwest is not short of food now.

After this summer grain harvest, the grain accumulated in the northwest in recent years is not only to ensure the living needs of the people in the region, but also to bear the living needs of tens of millions of people in the year. Moreover, autumn grain should also have a good harvest.

However, if there is food in the northwest, it cannot be sent out. Huamei Company is labeled as an American company, and the Nanjing authorities and important personnel of various provinces are concerned about it and will not do anything randomly. However, if the People's Army transports the grain from each province, it will almost certainly be intercepted by all parties in the name of "enemy capital". The intercepted food will basically not enter the mouths of the victims, but will fall into the private pockets of the important personnel. Moreover, it is not conducive to transferring the victims to the northwest.

Zhao Zhenzhong knew very well that the greed of the Party and the country's important members has no bottom line. This can be seen from the actions of the Nanjing authorities since the implementation of the US Silver Act, especially the policies formulated by Kong Xiangxi, and the actions of colluding with important members to make profits through the central bank's large-scale export of silver dollars.

Although the quality of Chinese silver dollars is different, the silver dollar with a face value of one yuan basically contains about 22 grams. If converted in the US, it is about 0.7555 ounces. In mid-October 10, 2014, the international price of silver contained in the one-yuan ocean was more than 25 higher than the domestic price; by the spring of 1010, the international price of the one-yuan ocean had exceeded the domestic price of more than 50. At this time, exporting one thousand oceans to foreign countries could make a profit of 300 to 400 yuan.

Driven by such a great interest, silver smuggling naturally became a trend. In order to prevent the outflow of silver, Finance Minister Kong Xiangxi first banned the export of silver, but later, seeing that the ban was not paid attention to, he explicitly ordered a tariff of 10 on October 15, 2014 to impose a tariff of 10 on silver exports.

While taxing to prevent the outflow of silver, Kong Xiangxi gave the central bank that operates foreign exchange and gold and silver transactions a tax-free policy of silver export, allowing the central bank to exclusively sell a large amount of Chinese silver overseas and obtain high profits. If this method is done publicly, it can be regarded as an effective measure for the central bank to enrich its capital or make up for the national finances. But in fact, Kong Xiangxi used the national weapon privately, turning this tax-free policy into an opportunity for his own and some important members of the party and the country to make a fortune.

Through the establishment of Huamei Branch in the Shanghai Concession and Tang Ming and others in the United States, although Zhao Zhenzhong could not clearly understand the actions of the Nanjing authorities in the outflow of silver, he could roughly guess the situation through the relevant situation.

Under various restrictions, Zhao Zhenzhong had no choice but to find another way to help and transfer more victims to the northwest.

After discussing with Tian Yunyi, Zhou Anshu and others, Zhao Zhenzhong really found several solutions:

First, when the charity association led by Zhu Qinglan and relevant personnel from Huamei Company went to the disaster area to recruit victims, in addition to the officially recruited elderly, weak, women, children, and young and strong, more victims knew that "there is a way to survive in the northwest" and encouraged young and strong to go to the northwest by themselves. Of course, this method is suitable for Jin, Shaanxi, Sui and other provinces near the northwest.

The second is to let the Yimeng base area take in some disaster victims from nearby districts and counties to reduce the number of victims from Shandong to the northwest. This year, due to the Yellow River and the canal flooding in Shandong, the number of victims exceeded 3.5 million. It is definitely unrealistic to transfer all the victims to the northwest, so we can only select a part of them.

Third, the victims recruited and transferred to the northwest by Zhu Qinglan and others should be mainly affected by disaster victims in Hebei, Henan, and northwest Shandong.

In this way, the elderly, weak, women, children and a moderate amount of young and strong people were recruited by Zhu Qinglan and moved to the northwest, while the young and strong people in Jin, Sui, Shaanxi, and even Hebei, Henan and other provinces could go west by themselves. In addition, Zhou Mingyuan recruited some disaster victims in Yimeng, so he should be able to rescue and take in more disaster victims.

When Zhao Zhenzhong telegraphed the relevant plan and Zhou Mingyuan and others in charge of work in Yimeng, Zhou Mingyuan proposed the fourth method to Zhao Zhenzhong after careful consideration. Through the method proposed by Zhou Mingyuan, it can not only help more victims, but also organically combine it with the guards' future strategic arrangements in Shandong, and further play the strategic framework proposed by Zhao Zhenzhong before.

After receiving Zhou Mingyuan's call, Zhao Zhenzhong naturally agreed with the matter of rescuing the victims and carried out it through the Huamei Company system. As for the future development strategy of the Guards in Shandong, Gu Haichuan and others would be implemented in detail in the future, Zhao Zhenzhong found Gu Haichuan, Jiang Yishan, and Zhang Gongyuan who were studying at the Military and Political University to carefully study several different issues in Yimeng and Shandong. Finally, a future development strategy of the Guards, based on Zhou Mingyuan's suggestion and after several supplements and improvements, was presented to Zhao Zhenzhong...

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