Chapter Twenty Settling Down
"All along, I have believed that our hands will never be stained with the hot blood of our compatriots, and the bullets we produce will not be fired at our own people one day. We are all children of the same country, we are all descendants of the Yan and Huang Emperors, we are all Chinese people with yellow skin and black eyes."
Looking at the bodies covered with white cloth, 427 corpses were neatly placed in the open space, surrounded by people who came to claim the bodies. These so-called former Qing soldiers were reorganized by Lu Rongting, and many of them still benefited from his greed, becoming a family that was not in the minority. A conflict took away the lives of 458 people. The People's Army had already identified all the soldiers with families through their nameplates and distributed sufficient consolation fees to those who had families. The identification work for these "enemy" bodies is still ongoing.
"Bury all the unclaimed ones together!" Zhang Yu gave such an order before leaving.
"The suppression action of the Guangxi military government was not approved by Yuan Shikai, and it was a private action that was not recognized by the central government. As for the self-defense war of the people of Liuzhou, the so-called central government had not mentioned anything about it. Perhaps such chaotic wars were very common on Chinese soil, just like the White Wolf Army fighting in Gansu Province and Yuan Shikai's troops, they were all compatriots, all children of China, but still faced each other with swords drawn. Moreover, Yuan Shikai had mobilized more troops to suppress the White Wolf Army. In early 20th century China, such mutual killings could happen at any time, so don't worry about it!"
Back at the former Zhongzheng Group office building, now renamed Guangxi Temporary Autonomous Government, Zhang Yu's heavy heart still hadn't been relieved, but a sentence from Zhang Yusheng slightly alleviated his mood. "When will this civil war, this endless internal strife, finally end?" Slumping on the stairs outside the building, Zhang Yu leaned against the pillar, gazing at the clouds tinted red by the setting sun in the distance, his thoughts drifting far away.
Zhang Yu-sheng put down the newspaper in his hand, and the content on it was just a small part of the story about what happened in Guangxi. The evening wind came, and the newspaper slipped silently to the ground at the feet of the two people, who were leaning against the stone pillar with their backs to each other. "You say, did we do something wrong? I always feel that if we didn't appear domestically, if we didn't provoke Lu Rong-ting, if we listened to his arrangements and instructions, would all this have happened?"
Zhang Yusheng looked at Zhang Yu, who was talking nonsense, plucked a flower from the flower stand and put it on his nose, slowly inhaling its fragrance. Then, he slowly peeled off petal after petal until he saw the stamen before stopping. "There is no road that can be walked again, there is nothing that can happen again. Life is like a long-running TV series, every day is live, no rehearsal and no replay."
"You are just a person, not an all-powerful god, there are many things that cannot be changed, and many stories that cannot be altered. Do your own job conscientiously, don't worry about hurting some innocent people, maybe if you don't act, it will lead to more innocent people leaving, when you are old and weak, you won't remember the scenery along the way, but only the result of walking this road. Since we have chosen this path, we should stick to it all the way, regardless of wind, rain, mud, or thorns."
"Every road has a reason that cannot be avoided, every road has a direction that must be persisted! Believe me, if we don't show up, they will also disappear one day, and more people will disappear innocently. For the latter, we should do so! Of course, try to do less in the future, as little as possible..."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Yusheng stood up and picked up the flower petals on the ground, then patted Zhang Yu's shoulder and walked into the building.
"In the pursuit of a process, it will inevitably cause many inconveniences and even harm in various aspects. A person's happiness may come from their true inner feelings, but the happiness and success of a group are determined by the suffering of some people, including sacrifice."
Zhang Yu still hung his head low, looking at the ants on the ground continuously dragging that small insect which had already become a corpse. One team after another of ants came swarming in, surrounding that delicious food and bustling about to help.
"Perhaps, this is the destination of fate!" After muttering to himself, Zhang Yu stood up and gazed up at the sky, feeling refreshed and relieved once again.
The power of time is unimaginable to ordinary people, and the intimidation of years is also an absolute fear for the world. The erosion of time can grind away any sharp edges, such as a lover's affection, an enemy's irreconcilable hatred, and time will erase all the marks in life, whether you believe it or not, people will become old and frail, youthfulness and naivety will be replaced by wrinkles, but these are not the greatest effects of time, its greatest effect is to make people forget, forget everything, including emotions, trauma, etc., of course, also including the stories that once existed in life.
The burial of the casualties in the conflict quickly disappeared like sand in the long river of history. For the vast majority of people who are deeply trapped in such a chaotic world, perhaps they should thank this conflict for changing the wheel of fate with its sudden appearance and disappearance, and the light of life gradually shines through the clouds.
On April 15, 1914, the People's Autonomous Government was formally established in Liuzhou, and municipal governments were also established in Nanning, Guilin, Yulin, Zhanjiang, Wuzhou and other places. Hundreds of thousands of people suddenly fell into celebration, welcoming the arrival of the day when the people truly became masters of their own homes, gradually forgetting the sound of cannons before this. On April 20, the People's Autonomous Government was also established in Hainan, more people began to understand what had happened, and of course, more people were willing to see it happen, so when everyone unknowingly, the two autonomous governments welcomed their "legitimacy certification".
Just as the May Day Labour holiday was about to begin, a rare piece of big news came from afar in the East. At 9:00 am on May 1st, Yuan Shikai officially announced the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, formally abolishing the previous "Provisional Constitution". He also expanded presidential powers, changed the cabinet system to a presidential system, abolished the State Council, and established the Political Affairs Hall in the Presidential Palace. Xu Shichang was appointed as the Minister of National Affairs. These messages were not important for people on the southwestern border. The key news is that Yuan Shikai officially recognized the people's autonomy in Guangxi Province. He also agreed to rename Qiongya Road as Hainan and incorporate it into Guangxi Province as a municipal-level area. However, he did not give any explanation regarding the "legitimacy" of the Revival Party and People's Army within Guangxi Province.
The passage of time is extremely fast, and while the public was still worried about the "legitimacy" issue of the two major organizations, on May 20th, Yuan Shikai promulgated another law, the "Local Defense Corps Regulations". The main purpose of its release was to strengthen local governance, and also ensured the "legitimacy" of the People's Army. The Revival Party existed only as a large organization for people's self-governance management.
All these things happened one after another, but in fact, they had no impact on the real masters. After the establishment of the autonomous government, Zhang Yu and others began their respective work. The People's Army must be expanded, and those so-called prisoners need to be incorporated into the basic construction team for a period of labor reform. The most important thing is the configuration of troops and division of defense zones after the expansion of the People's Army.
Zhang Yu's work is busy, but it's not as much as Zhang Yusheng's half. In the past, he only managed a group, but after a conflict, it quickly became a populous province with nearly 180 million people in Guangxi alone, and Hainan Island, as a special municipality, also has nearly two million people. Unlike before, when he was only responsible for managing tens of thousands of people in a large enterprise, Zhang Yusheng now needs to take responsibility for thousands of times more people than the group, which requires a lot of work.
In the old days, a province was often without clear administrative divisions, especially in semi-feudal and semi-colonial China. As a remote southwestern border area that had always been neglected, even fewer people paid attention to it. Many rural residents lived a life of indifference to worldly affairs, regardless of whether Lu Rongting came to power or the People's Autonomous Government took office. They didn't care about the changes in the officials, and their only concern was the one-third acre of land at home.
Zhang Yu-sheng did not intend to easily change this pattern, nor did he have the ability to manage the vast countryside. He could only control the major cities and important areas within the borders, gradually gaining recognition from the entire 20 million people through slow economic penetration and political propaganda. Therefore, in order to control the major cities, Zhang Yu-sheng had to first tightly connect each region together.
With Nanning, Liuzhou and Yulin as the central cities, a highway network with four vertical and eight horizontal lines was built. On Hainan Island, a ring road was constructed, and two major ports, Haikou and Sanya, were built. Originally, Guangxi had only one freight railway line from Fangchenggang to Qinzhou to Nanning to Liuzhou. The railway from Liuzhou to Guilin was once suspended due to the strained relationship with Lu Rongting, but after resuming construction, it could be completed quickly. The released railway construction force would be invested in the "horizontal" railway line centered on Liuzhou, which would start from Nandan in western Guangxi, pass through Hechi and Liuzhou, and head east to reach the important city of Hezhou. Then, starting from Hezhou, it would head south to connect with Wuzhou, Yulin, and Zhanjiang, and even extend to Xuwen at the end of Leizhou Peninsula, which is across the sea from Haikou. Of course, this main line will also give rise to many branches, and in order to communicate with the Liunan Line, another "horizontal" railway needs to be built to connect Nanning and Yulin.
As a result, the entire eastern part of Guangxi and coastal areas will be gradually covered by a dense transportation network through railways and highways. Major cities and towns can communicate with each other through fast and efficient transportation methods, which is extremely necessary for establishing a solid governing people's autonomous government in Guangxi. Of course, the construction of a large number of railways and highways belongs to labor-intensive industries, which also greatly benefits the economic development of the surrounding areas along the lines, and this is another important reason for laying the foundation for stable governance.
"Besides the political construction work in each important city, I also need a guarantee of military strength!"
On June 10, the municipal government institutions of the ten major cities under the jurisdiction of the Guangxi People's Autonomous Government, namely Nanning, Yulin, Wuzhou, Hezhou, Guilin, Hechi, Baise, Zhanjiang, Haikou and Sanya, were completed. After the establishment of these municipal governments, they did not impose any taxes on the people, but instead actively united with the local people, vigorously built a network of highways, striving to achieve connectivity between villages with small stone roads, and also completing the construction of highways between important towns. Of course, the government would provide subsidies for these projects.
The second phase of the government's tasks was also related to people's livelihoods, which was to gather together some elderly orphans and helpless children from rural areas, establish special welfare institutions to support them.
The third task was to build water conservancy projects and irrigation systems in various places. The days when farmers relied on heaven for food must be changed to a certain extent.
All kinds of projects for the benefit of the people revolve around one point, that is, never let the common people spend a penny, and all work revolves around the interests of the people. Of course, these measures are called "projects for the benefit of the people" in good words, but in bad words, they are called "buying people's hearts". Anyway, the newly established People's Autonomous Government has enough financial and material resources to support the complex and numerous "buying people's hearts" work. A road that surrounds cities with rural areas, economically dissolves, and transports interconnected administrative roads is gradually verified to be correct, and this basic strategy for stabilizing governance has been used by the autonomous government until the founding of New China, and even in various works afterwards, including during the financial crisis, it was all about pulling domestic demand.
"I know you need a certain military strength to guard those important areas, but the key is that I don't have anyone to give you right now!" Zhang Yu told Provincial Governor Zhang Yusheng, who had come to ask for help, and could only inform him of the current difficulties. "When we first started out, we only had one regiment, and after reforming into the People's Army, many people needed to change their roles and thinking. Moreover, the expanded establishment we have now also needs them to serve as the backbone force, at least three months are needed to complete all the construction, and having combat effectiveness is even further away!"
After the People's Army was established, nearly 50,000 enthusiastic young people were recruited from all over the country. After layers of selection, some physically weak individuals were eliminated and sent to technical schools for work training. Some also joined engineering teams in various parts of the country after receiving driving training. The remaining 30,000 young people far exceeded Zhang Yu's requirements. Even if he used every single person from his old team as an officer, with two people leading a class, which was one-to-five mutual assistance training, they could only accept around 10,000 people. Therefore, the remaining individuals had only two choices: first, leave the newly built military camp and return to their hometown or find a job quickly after participating in work training; second, stay in the military camp, undergo arduous training to reach a certain level and join the troops, or join the engineering corps.
"New recruits' military training is only about two months, why do you need three months? Even if the long three-month training is to lay a better foundation, why do you still need so much time to grind afterwards?" Zhang Yu-sheng hoped to dispatch troops to an important region as soon as possible to prevent Yuan Shikai or Tang Jiyao from suddenly attacking.
"I guarantee you, by mid-September, we can dispatch some troops to the important cities you need." Zhang Yu looked at the soldiers training on the No. 1 training ground, which was as large as four football fields, and said confidently to his brother. "It's really like you said, our Chinese children are strong enough, born with diligence and simplicity, especially their physical quality is unparalleled, it's just that their height is a bit..."
"Everyone came with passion to join the army and protect the people, you'd better not disappoint them!" Zhang Yu Sheng was also very satisfied looking at the crowd sweating profusely. The dry queue training didn't have much to it, but for 21st-century people, they would probably get fed up after a day, nearly collapse after a week, and if they could persist for two weeks with various training content in between, such as nighttime emergency assembly, morning and evening armed cross-country runs, etc., many people would probably go crazy. The military training of university students in later generations is very clear evidence, but here, no one complains even a little bit. Maybe it's because they can eat meat, eggs, vegetables, and fragrant rice every day, which already makes them satisfied. Of course, there may be other reasons as well.
"In this conflict, several new-style weapons equipped by the troops played an excellent role! But these are just the words of the officers and men. How do you think they performed?" Zhang Yu-sheng naturally knew where these weapons came from, and he had a lot to do with it, but whether the brilliant weapons in another time and space were performing normally here, Zhang Yu-sheng wanted to know the answer from the highest commander.
"The universal machine gun and the squad machine gun participated in all combat actions during the conflict, after a series of verifications, although both are first-generation, but the firepower advantage they played out is one of the main pillars of our victory in the war with fewer troops. The field rapid-fire cannon and mortar were also proven to be extremely excellent weapons." Zhang Yu said, feeling that he didn't need to say so much. "Right, these things are extremely familiar to you, how well they can play their role is clearer to you than me. Is there another intention behind my words?"
In response to Zhang Yu's rhetorical question, Zhang Yusheng could only smile and say: "You must know what the situation in Europe is like now. The armories of various countries are full of ammunition, soldiers are enthusiastic, capitalists are eager to try, and politicians and generals are also confident. It's just a spark that can ignite the long-standing contradictions between European countries. If we follow the normal course of history, you and I should understand what will happen next and what we should do!" After finishing speaking, Zhang Yusheng stopped watching the training and sat down to drink tea while waiting for Zhang Yu's response.
"I'm telling you, why are you so eager to mass-produce weapons? The profits of military factories can't be seen in peacetime, but once war breaks out, I estimate that the profit from one howitzer will far exceed the profit from a car. As he said this, Zhang Yu sat down excitedly and looked at his brother, saying: "Mortars can't be exported, if they were used in the trench warfare of World War I, those years of stalemate would have been much shorter. The two machine guns can be exported, after all, they are still first-generation, their performance is stable but there are still many problems. Artillery and ammunition are our export priorities."
Zhang Yu-sheng smiled quietly and did not respond to his younger brother's words. After a long time, he furrowed his brow slightly and said: "War consumes not only weapons and equipment, but also soldiers' clothing, medicine, food, cigarettes, and so on. The profit from transporting a truckload of goods to Europe is far less than the profit from transporting the same weight of medicines or weapons. Of course, when war comes, our car production and tractor manufacturing will be affected to some extent. I have already asked the American side to adjust their production capacity, develop secret production of strategic materials such as food processing and military uniforms, and transfer the freed-up car manufacturing personnel to truck production. The demand for logistics transportation in wartime is enormous, and our trucks will also have a huge market."
"What do you really want to do? Just arranging the affairs of the American group, what about our domestic ones? This World War I is a rare opportunity, how can we still think about helping the Americans stimulate economic development?" Zhang Yu's voice grew louder, fortunately, this place was at a certain distance from the training ground, and accompanied by the slogans from the training ground, it's estimated that no one could hear what was being said here.
"I plan to make good use of this opportunity, at least to establish a basic industrial system in our hometown. We currently lack electricity, without which we cannot set up factories to manufacture goods. We lack various types of technical personnel, and without talent, how can we develop light and heavy industry? Therefore, what our hometown needs is not urgent preparation for explosion, but stability, stabilizing the situation in all regions and slowly building basic projects, such as power generation, shipbuilding and so on. Can't open factories to make a fortune from war without electricity? Can't sell goods to Europe without transport ships? All problems boil down to one point, that is local stability. So I came to ask you when can we have more guaranteed stability in all regions?"
Zhang Yu's intention Zhang Yu has thoroughly understood that with the resource-rich and populous advantages of Guangxi and Hainan Island, his brother is determined to establish a complete and powerful industrial system in these regions, including steel, petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, military industries, etc. He hopes to take advantage of the opportunity of the war to gradually build and expand them. In fact, both places have the resource advantages and human resources, so the only concern is the unstable neighboring warlords who are always a source of worry.
The people's army that cannot take the initiative to attack must take the initiative to defend itself, so that it can have a peaceful development zone internally and wait for the best opportunity for the Chinese nation to catch up with the imperialist powers. Therefore, what needs to be done is not to become more radical, but rather to settle down, thoroughly settle down, and do some practical work steadily.
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