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

After the Yellow River raging in 33 years, the Nanjing authorities organized the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee to formulate work steps for controlling the Yellow River: 1. First engage in the gate blocking project; 2. Then build the dike from the dangerous work; 3. Repair the dam. Among them, the gate blocking project for treating the symptoms of the Yellow River Shandong section was completed one after another in the spring of 1935, but the project to repair the dike used to treat the root cause was due to the shortage of funds and the huge project, and the plan has not been carried out so far. However, after the severe drought that began in spring, it encountered such severe floods in summer and autumn. The Yellow River dike, which had been blocked for several months, once again broke many times, and compared with the 33-year yellow disaster, it was even worse, which can be regarded as "the old scars have not healed, and new injuries have been added."

When the Yellow River broke down near Linpuji, Juancheng on the evening of July 10, Han Fuju was in Jinan. After receiving the disaster report, although Han Fuju dealt with it as usual, he did not pay much attention to it. After all, the Yellow River has often flooded in recent years, and the number of breaches has been more frequent. However, when Han Fuju learned that the Yellow River broke down in Yuzhuang on July 13, the water approached Heze City, and the disaster reported by various counties one after another, he realized that "no."

On July 15, Han Fuju sent a telegram to the chiefs of the Party, Government, Military Affairs, Military Affairs and various groups to report the tragic situation of the Huang disaster in Shandong, saying that those who escaped from the dam were sleeping in the wind and drifted in the open; those who were trapped in the water called the earth and called the sky, mourning the sky, and the miserable tragedy was extremely miserable. Compared with the Yellow Disaster of the previous year, the Yellow Disaster was more severe and the relief was especially given to the saving of people.

Later, in order to understand the disaster in detail, Han Fuju went to southwestern Shandong to inspect the flood on July 19, and went to Dongzhuang on August 16 to check the situation and prepare to hold a blocking meeting. Whether Han Fuju was to stabilize his territory or to really love the people, he had made great achievements in the process of clearing out bandits after he became the chairman of Shandong Province, promoting education, punishing corrupt officials, implementing rural construction plans, and rescuing disaster victims. Compared with other territorial officials of his time, he has done his job.

However, at this time, the Nanjing authorities had been in the civil war for years, and military expenditure accounted for about 40 fiscal revenue, which was already a deficit fiscal. In addition, the severe impact of domestic silver dollar exports on the economy after the United States passed the silver bill, the following telegrams requesting the central government to provide relief to various places, the party and state officials in Nanjing were powerless to do anything.

Of course, as the central government, it is necessary to make some statements in disaster relief. On August 6, in the expectations of the affected provinces, the Executive Yuan passed two unpainful resolutions on disaster relief: 1. All provinces and cities were ordered to rescue floods; 2. All rights reserved for land taxes in Hebei-Chahar-Sanitary Land. In addition to the two resolutions, the urgently needed materials for daily life such as food, clothing, and other urgently needed materials in daily life that the disaster victims in each province have been eagerly hoped for.

When South Korea Fuju accompanied the Minister of Finance Kong Xiangxi, who inspected the Yellow River flood on September 4, and Qin Fen, Secretary-General of the National Economic Commission, visited Jining to inspect the disaster, Nanjing still did not bring good news to Han Fuju. Chairman Han, who was deeply dissatisfied with this, expressed his dissatisfaction to Nanjing in November through his actions.

Just when Han Fuju was worried about the large-scale disaster in Shandong and millions of victims, Han Fuju, who returned to Jinan, received good news that surprised him on September 8. When he met with Huote, the manager of Huamei Qingdao Branch, Ma Renming, and Smith, the manager of Huamei Qingdao Branch, Huote actually proposed to use labor instead of relief and undertake the project of rebuilding the Yellow River and canal embankment. The conditions are: after each section of the embankment is completed, wastelands, river beaches and other unowned land along the river will be handed over to Huamei Company to organize manpower farming, and will be exempted within 5 years, and land tax will be paid according to the regulations of the authorities after 5 years; Huamei is allowed to open a ceramic factory in the Boshan area, and will be exempted within 3 years; after the project is completed, the construction machinery must be purchased by the Shandong authorities after the discount, and the price must be paid within 3 years after the project is completed.

After hearing these three conditions, Han Fuju looked at Li Shuchun on the side and found that the other party was looking at him in surprise. If it weren't for the Yellow River and the huge reconstruction project of the canal embankment, Han Fuju would have wanted to solve the Yellow River once and for all, and the huge problem of canal flooding would not have been delayed until now. Such a huge project naturally requires a lot of manpower and material investment, but compared with the investment, the conditions proposed by Huamei Company were obviously a loss-making transaction. Even if the investment of the construction machinery would eventually be paid by Shandong, it would be after the discount and it would still be paid within 3 years.

"Just these three conditions? Your company is not worried about losing money?" Li Shuchun asked.

"From the next few years, our company will indeed invest a lot, but in the long run, it will be profitable." After receiving a call from the US headquarters, Hort had called back twice to object, but with the headquarters' explanation and the clear attitude of "changing people if you don't implement it", Hort also supported the policy of the headquarters after consideration.

"The profits of the ceramic factory can make up for part of the investment in the production of arable land. In addition, the construction project can enable our company to find sales in Baode's automobiles and other products. After calculating the entire project, our company will indeed lose a little, but the production of the fields, ceramic factories and Baode Industrial Zone is constantly coming. In the long run, we are not losing. Of course, it will be very large in recent years."

After thinking about it, Han Fuju and Li Shuchun didn't think that Huamei's plan was not good for him. At most, Huamei wanted to make a fuss about the prices of construction machinery such as automobiles and payment interest.

"What method will the construction machinery be discounted after the project is completed? How can the interest be calculated after paying the construction machinery price within three years after completion?" Li Shuchun asked again out of caution.

"The vehicle is paid at 70% of the market price at the time of completion. If it is paid within three years after completion, interest will be charged, but it will be paid in US dollars." Hot showed his trump card.

The other party's price and attitude really made Han Fuju excited. However, when Han Fuju was first in contact, Li Shuchun did not reply immediately, but instead delayed it for two days on the grounds that "it is of great importance and needs to be approved by the Shandong Government Committee."

In the past two days, Han Fuju and Li Shuchun also fully understood Huamei's actions in China over the years. After thinking about it, he felt that there was no disadvantage to him, so he re-negotiated on September 11. This time it involved the specific content. The preparedness of Hort, Smith, and Ma Renming came up with a complete set of prepared plans from financial support, material investment, construction personnel recruitment standards, construction management, project quality, etc. This made Han, Li and others sigh at Huamei's strength and rigor, while also feeling more at ease.

However, the young and strong people who participate in the construction of the entire project on a daily basis will have more than 60,000. If there are more than 100,000 people involved in the slack season, it may be possible that Han Fuju will not be completely at ease with such a huge group. Therefore, in terms of construction management, Han Fuju proposed that Shandong should send troops to maintain order. For this request, Hort did not object to this requirement, but only limited: in the absence of riots or organized disruption of construction, all situations will be resolved first by the engineering command.

Later, the two sides negotiated on disaster relief and other matters, and reached an agreement on rescuing victims along the river.

On September 16, after all the specific conditions were determined, the Shandong authorities and Huamei officially signed an agreement on the reconstruction of the Yellow River and Canal embankment. According to the agreement, the two parties will establish the engineering command center, Han Fuju as the honorary commander-in-chief, Hote as the honorary deputy commander-in-chief, and the executive deputy commander-in-chief of the project is Ma Renming and Li Shuchun, and the chief engineer is Huang Taiming, who has just returned to China.

In fact, the candidate for chief engineer is controversial. Han Fuju and Li Shuchun once recommended that Li Yizhi, chairman of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee, take the role, while Hot and Ma Renming support Huang Taiming.

Huang Taiming is 27 years old. After graduating from Sihai School in the summer of 2017, he studied abroad. He obtained a doctorate in civil engineering from Cornell University in the United States in July this year, and has a deep attainment in water conservancy engineering. Moreover, Huang Taiming is also the first group of party members of the overseas branch of the People's Party. It is precisely with this background that Tang Ming, the head of the overseas branch of the People's Party, decided to send Huang Taiming, who was originally going to the northwest, to Shandong as the chief engineer of the reconstruction of the Two Rivers River Embankment.

Li Yizhi's official background is something that Huamei Company is unwilling to accept. Although Huang Taiming has achieved success in his studies, Han and Li think he is too young. However, Huamei Company is an engineering contractor after all, and can decide on the candidate for chief engineers on its own. Han and Li are not good at opposing it in the face of no sufficient reasons.

After the agreement was signed, Huamei Qingdao Branch, under the auspices of Hot and Ma Renming, began to mobilize various materials; while Li Shuchun came forward to select young and strong people from the victims so that the project could be carried out later; Huang Taiming led some personnel from Huamei Company to survey the rivers and embankments in the disaster area and formulated a project plan.

The strategic plan determined by Zhao Zhenzhong, Zhou Mingyuan and others gradually unfolded under Han Fuju's nose bit by bit.

The construction of construction was selected by Li Shuchun and Huamei Company according to the standards. Jinan sent someone to participate in the management of construction personnel. Han Fuju was not worried about any tricks. As for the construction process, Huamei proposed to provide basic cultural education for construction personnel so that everyone could better understand the command of engineering and technical personnel, Han Fuju agreed after thinking about it, and even sent some people to teach basic courses such as Mandarin and arithmetic.

Of course, under Hort's insistence, Han Fuju also agreed to Huamei to establish an 800-person business group to be responsible for escorting and custodying some materials. After all, the army is an army. If he takes on such a task, wouldn't he be the one who is under the command of Chairman Han be the one who guards Huamei Company? Besides, although 800 people are not small, they can be scattered to various construction sites, and there are troops commanded by Li Shuchun who are responsible for maintaining construction management order. There is no problem with this force.

But it was under the open and problem-free appearance that all this was open and without problems, and with the advancement of the project, the People's Party and the Guards began to gradually lay a solid mass base along the river.

It should be said that Zhao Zhenzhong and Zhou Mingyuan chose to use disaster relief projects as a cover to lay the foreshadowing of the future in the core control area of ​​Han Fuju, and their grasp of the timing is still very good.

After uprooting the CCP organization many times, by the autumn of 1935, Shandong had no signs of CCP activities for about two years. Chiang Kai-shek drove the CCP to the poor and remote areas in the southwest, and Shandong's rural construction plan also showed results. In this situation, in addition to some concerns about the guards occupying Yimeng, Han Fuju was still very relieved about Shandong. What's more, as the crisis in North China became increasingly worse, some of Japan's leading figures in China began to visit frequently, and Han Fuju shifted more energy to dealing with the Japanese and paying attention to the situation in North China.

However, Han Fuju did not notice that the floods of the Yellow River and the canal almost completely wiped out the rural construction results along the two rivers in 35 years. In other places, rural construction did strengthen the control of the Jinan authorities over Shandong, but for the victims who were chaotic and abnormally along the two rivers after the major disaster, the Jinan authorities could not say anything decently controlled. The recruitment and management of the construction youth was also carried out under the promotion of Huamei Company. Combining these factors, this provided the People's Party and the Guards with extremely favorable opportunities to expand their power in Shandong.

Under the leadership of Zhou Mingyuan, Yimeng's layout for Shandong's future has been unfolded, while Zhao Zhenzhong in the northwest began to pay attention to the forces around him.

On August 6, the eastern part of the Red 25th Army advanced to Liangdang and Huixian in Longnan. But then, the unit did not enter the Weihe Valley in Longzhong as in history and went to northern Shaanxi after moving to Longdong, Gansu and other places. Instead, after exploring the situation, it first shot Baoji and then turned northwest. Just when Yang Hucheng's army thought that the Red 25th Army would hit the defensive position of the People's Army, the unit turned east again after advancing to the boundary of Longxian and rushed to Bing County.

Subsequently, the Red 25th Army crossed the Jing River on August 19 and penetrated into Yijun. Just when the enemy defended the Red 25th Army was panicked, the troops were sent around the county town and attacked Malan Town in the upper reaches of the Sanshui River. After resting in Malan for a few days, the sacrificed personnel were buried and the troops were adjusted, the Red 25th Army continued to go east and enter Yijun County, and on September 8, he joined forces with the Shaanxi-North Korean Red Army led by Liu Zhidan.

Zhao Zhenzhong had already clearly understood the combat operations of the Red 25th Army after departing from Liangdang and Huixian in Xi'an. He also explained the combat operations during the period in the Military and Political University as combat examples to the students.

"In summary, the combat characteristics of this department are basically the same as those of Liu's troops in six counties in northern Shaanxi, and can be called "adapted to local conditions and flexible and maneuverable". This kind of fighting method is a very effective combat method in the absence of heavy firepower, and it is also something that mountain troops and other troops should learn from and learn from."

Zhao Zhenzhong commented on the battle of the Communist Party of China troops here, and after the meeting in northern Shaanxi, Liu Zhidan asked with concern: "Old Xu, you didn't meet the People's Army in the West, right?"

"We only have this little man and will not take the initiative to touch the fortifications of the opponent's heavy troops." Xu Haidong shook his head and explained, "After we advanced to Liangdang and Hui County, we found that the department had signs of withdrawal. Through the captured several prisoners, we found out the general situation around us, and after careful study with Lao Wu and the others, we determined the march route. Unfortunately, Lao Wu died on the way north."

Everyone around was also feeling sad.

Originally, according to the predetermined plan, the Yang Hucheng unit of Hui County in Liangdang County had to change defense with Yu Xuezhong's troops in the Northeast Army, but Yu Xuezhong's troops had to postpone the change period due to continuous rainfall in the Wei River area and the difficulty of marching. However, at this time, in Liangdang, the defensive troops of Hui County began to transfer to Feng County as planned, leaving only a small number of left-behind troops. This gave the Red 25th Army an opportunity to take advantage of it.

In history, after the Red 25th Army advanced to Liangdang and Hui County, Yang Hucheng's troops deployed heavy troops to fight in southern Shaanxi, and had to switch to Gansu. But now, due to the People's Army's severe damage to Yang Hucheng's troops several times in succession, and stationed heavy troops on the Guanlong line. In addition to the restraint of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, Yang Hucheng did not have many mobile troops to call. Not long after the Northeast Army entered Shaanxi, it was basically familiar with geography and human relations, let alone decent combat operations.

After receiving the information provided by the prisoners, the main leaders of the Red 25th Army also quietly inspected the People's Army's defense line in the distance. They saw not only the permanent fortifications made of concrete, dense crossfire points, barbed wire and trenches, and it is said that a large number of mines were buried in the front of the position. This kind of fortification was impossible to chew on the 3,000 people who lacked heavy firepower in the 25th Army. Xu Haidong, who had been in good condition, would naturally not joke about the fate of thousands of soldiers of the Red 25th Army. It was reasonable to make a move according to local conditions.

The Red 25th Army has arrived in northern Shaanxi, but there are other CCP troops coming later. Zhao Zhenzhong ordered Xu Mingyi, who is now in charge of the Second Column affairs, Jiang Bin, to strengthen the alert, and ordered Huang Tiancheng to lead a unit of the Special Column to strengthen the direction of Longnan, and to send the short-standing air force to prepare for alternate patrols and surveillance. Of course, Zhao Zhenzhong also clearly required that all units should not take the initiative to attack, mainly for deterrence.

In this regard, Zhao Zhenzhong explained: "Although our People's Party is different from the CCP, they are also the enemy of Chiang Kai-shek after all. We do not need to work hard for Chiang Kai-shek and make his intention of killing people with a knife."

On September 19, after Zhao Zhenzhong learned that a Chinese Communist Party had broken through Lazikou, which was fortified by Lu Dachang Division, and moved to Longnan, he ordered the Air Force to dispatch and carry out missions in Longnan.

The People's Army Air Force, which was recently established, now only 21 bombers converted from passenger aircraft, and transport aircraft are put into use. There are 25 aircraft introduced from the United States under assembly. Among the aircraft put into use, there are 12 modified B-247s and 9 DC-3s. Although the air combat performance of these aircraft is not very good, it is still very good for bombing and transportation tasks. At present, what is being carried out in Longnan is only reconnaissance, surveillance, and the tasks of scattering leaflets and taking turns to patrol on this basis. This is even more difficult.

Just when Zhao Zhenzhong was concerned about Longnan, in late September, the People's Army stationed on the north bank of Yanhe in northern Shaanxi reported a new situation: four people escaped from the south of Yanhe, and were confirmed to be former members of the Communist Party of China.

After interrogation by the Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi-North Korea-North Shaanxi

After receiving the news, Zhao Zhenzhong shook his head and sighed. The Red 25th Army entered northern Shaanxi earlier than in history. Unexpectedly, the anti-counterfeiting began early. I just hope that those who were criticized and criticized could survive to their central government.

Zhao Zhenzhong did not pay much attention to the episode that happened in northern Shaanxi, but just told him to detain those people for a while before handling them.

On September 21, the People's Army Air Force discovered the Communist Party's armed forces in the Hadapu area in southern Shaanxi. Immediately, the Ge Minghan crew, who was carrying out the flight mission, circling and scattering leaflets while telegraphing to the rear. In the next few days, as long as the weather is good, each crew will take turns to monitor the movements in the Hadapu area.

On September 24, the CCP set up in the command center of Hadapu and gathered a group of decision makers who went north to operate.

Listening to the buzzing planes on their heads, the stout and stout person couldn't help but curse: "I've been buzzing on my head these days. I'm even more annoying than flies."

"There are strong soldiers and planes now, so they will naturally be more arrogant." A man wearing glasses joked, "One day, once you, Mr. Peng, will run away from their heads and be arrogant."

"I won't open even if I have it." After replying to the man, Mr. Peng asked the tall man sitting and smoking: "Old Mao, what will we do next?"

Lao Mao took the last bite of the cigarette butt in his hand, threw it on the ground and twisted it with his feet, and said, "From the newspapers we seized and the leaflets scattered by the People's Army, there are indeed Red Army activities in northern Shaanxi. If what the leaflet says is true, then the Red 25th Army led by Comrade Xu Haidong has also arrived in northern Shaanxi. The next step is to northern Shaanxi."

He knocked the table in front of him with his hand, and Lao Mao continued: "From the news discovered in the past two days and the feedback from comrades sent to contact the People's Army, the Yang Hucheng tribe in Shaanxi has indeed suffered a great loss in the hands of the People's Army and has not dared to attack its defense line so far. We might as well make a fuss from here."

"Then the People's Army is just another warlord who is not allowed to take the road north to fight against Japan." When Mr. Peng remembered that he was rejected when he sent someone to contact the People's Army, he was not angry.

The day before, Xu Mingyi clearly contacted the Communist Party representatives who came to Minxian and hoped to go north to go: "Anti-Japanese and national salvation is the responsibility of every Chinese, and there is no need for your party to remind you. The Soviet Union occupied more Chinese territory and encouraged Mongolia to split earlier, which was exactly the same as Japan instigating Manchuria's independence. However, you only saw that your party was the Soviet Union and Mongolia applauded. On the one hand, your party advocated the abolition of unequal treaties and oppose foreign aggression, and on the other hand, you should arm the defense of the Soviet Union. The same behaviors are two standards. The party's policies are nothing more than the same party's attacks on differences, and it is better not to listen.

Your party is able to kill our own people, let alone others? Not to mention, your party is not an independent Chinese party, but a Chinese branch of the Communist International under the control of the Soviet Union. The so-called left or right lines within your party are, in our opinion, just the Soviet Moscow line."

When the Red Army representatives who were angry after being responded to this by the People's Army, the leaders of the Communist Party of China were naturally very angry.

At this time, when Mr. Peng mentioned the People's Army's reply, Mao slowly said: "We did have some things we did not do well in the past, so we can't just blame others for misunderstandings. I think the People's Army seems to know a lot about our situation."

After a pause, Mao said again: "Since the other party does not welcome him, we will not come to be evil guests, which is annoying. There is no way to go."

"Old Mao, how should we do it?" asked the man wearing glasses.

Seeing that everyone in the room looked at him, Mao waved his hand: "Now the People's Army and the Nanjing authorities are confronting each other. The distance between them is more than 5 miles and the distance is more than 10 miles. We will walk from here in the middle and lie down at night and go north in a hidden way."

Seeing that everyone was full of confusion and concern, Mao continued to explain: "Yang Hucheng's army suffered a great loss from the People's Army, and was not sure that he would not attack outwards. Judging from the leaflets scattered by the People's Army and the contact with us, as long as we do not attack them, the People's Army will not attack us. In other words, we just need to hide from the Kuomintang army. Therefore, it is feasible for us to hide northward."

In an area of ​​about 5 to 10 miles wide, it would be difficult for a large army to march in secret, but the total number of the CCP is only about 7,000. This amount of troops is spread in the mountains at the junction of Shaanxi and Gansu. As long as you do a good job of concealing work, you can avoid the reconnaissance of the Kuomintang troops. Besides, since the People's Army Air Force has appeared in the sky, is it still a matter of whether Chiang Kai-shek's Air Force dares to reconnaissance?

After hearing Mao's explanation, everyone present became excited...
Chapter completed!