Chapter Forty-seven Expansion Construction

  "When a cart reaches the foot of a hill, there will certainly be a road; when a boat reaches the head of a bridge, it will naturally go straight." The authenticity of this sentence is worth considering.

  In the case of China's Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, even if you have a good car, it may not be able to drive up to the mountain foot, and your boat will definitely not be able to sail straight in the turbulent river. The mountains are high, with an average elevation of over 1,200 meters on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, including many peaks above 3,000 meters. Guizhou has many mountains, but they are slightly shorter, mostly with elevations of one or two thousand meters. In Yunnan Province, there are mountain ranges like Hengduan Mountains, Nu Mountains, and Ailao Mountains, which are all over 3,000 meters high. The river valleys carved out by these mountains are also terrifyingly deep, with depths of 100 to 3,000 meters being very common. If you can visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha River, you can experience for yourself how deep and awe-inspiring a valley over 3,000 meters deep can be.

  "Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, except for Sichuan being slightly easier to build in, the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi are enough to make people struggle for half a day. The land of Bashu also has the saying 'Shu Road is difficult, more difficult than ascending to heaven'. In fact, there is not much difference between the two. Of course, Sichuan has many plains and hills, while Shaanxi has many mountains and hills. When construction work is divided into provinces, the progress of each province may be different. However, for now, we have no choice but to face the difficulties head-on!"

  The autonomous region has taken over the four provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan and Guizhou. Although it was easy to take control militarily, the subsequent construction work is extremely difficult. Minister of Transportation Chen Ye said at the Autonomous Region's Transportation Construction Expansion Conference that people need to recognize the differences in geography, climate, culture, and development status among these four provinces, and more importantly, focus on how to solve this transportation construction problem.

  "The development of the old autonomous region is obvious to everyone, and it's also something we've personally participated in. The saying 'to get rich, first build roads' is something we've experienced and practiced firsthand. Without a transportation artery or dense network, regional economies can't be circulated, and naturally, an entire region can't progress." Chen Ye said this as he gestured to his deputy to hang up a new map on the wall.

  Chen Ye pulled out a baton and began to point at the map, lecturing: "The autonomous region government has clearly assigned tasks to our Ministry of Transportation. This task is undoubtedly to build a highway and railway network covering four provinces. After estimation, the construction volume of the highway network covering major towns in the four provinces is about 200,000 kilometers, and the railway construction volume is about 10,000 kilometers. The difficulty of construction is very high."

  Chen Ye did not deceive anyone, he pointed to the four major transportation hubs of Chengdu in Sichuan, Xi'an in Shaanxi, Kunming in Yunnan and Guiyang in Guizhou, and then said: "Such a large amount of engineering is impossible to start at the same time, of course we don't have the ability to build them simultaneously. In my opinion, it's better to rely on the Yangtze River transportation advantage, establish a transportation hub in Chongqing, and extend it to Chengdu and Guiyang as the center. With the advantage of Yangtze River transportation, I believe this transportation artery will be relatively easier to complete. At the same time, we can start building the Guiyang-Liuzhou artery, Nanning-Kunming highway...

  "When we have the railway and highway from Liuzhou via Guiyang, Chongqing to Chengdu, with sufficient transportation capacity, construction materials can meet the needs of the front line, and the two major arteries from Chengdu to Xi'an and Guiyang to Kunming can also be opened up for large-scale construction. Thus, the complex construction situation will also be opened up."

  It is clear that in the face of the arduous construction task, Chen Ye's plan was to start from simple to difficult. For example, with the convenience of water transportation, Chongqing, a hub, was given priority for development first, and after gaining enough strength, it could develop in both directions. After completing the two major transportation hubs of Chengdu and Guiyang, there was enough strength to launch an attack on Qinling and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

  The railway connecting Yunnan to Guangxi may be relatively faster to complete, as the autonomous region has already built railways to Xingyi in Guizhou province in recent years, especially for the construction of the Hongshui River first and second level power stations. The distance from Xingyi to Kunming is already very short, and with a certain construction period, it will be possible to open up the first railway on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

  Among so many provinces, Shaanxi Province may be the worst. Although the terrain is not steep, the construction foundation is almost blank, and only highways can be built. There are no cement plants or chemical industries, and only primitive gravel roads or even mud roads can be built. However, as long as a network of gravel roads covering the entire province can be built, it will lay a good foundation for future development.

  "In short, we divide the tasks assigned by the autonomous government into three stages. The first is to mobilize all provinces to launch a highway construction craze and transportation craze. In Chongqing, the accumulation of construction materials must rely on strong inland waterway transportation power. In the future, the completion of railways from Chongqing to Chengdu and Chongqing to Guiyang will be multi-segmented and simultaneous construction, which requires relying on highway transportation networks. Of course, if the railway from Xingyi to Kunming can be opened up in this stage, our second-stage task difficulty will be greatly reduced."

  "The second stage is to ensure the quality and quantity of completing the important main artery from Chengdu via Chongqing, Guiyang to Liuzhou. Of course, we will try to shorten the construction period as much as possible. This arterial highway will definitely be completed earlier, but this force should not be idle, it must be immediately invested in the construction of dense transportation networks within each province, especially in Guizhou, and make good preparations for the construction of the Guiyang-Kunming line."

  "The third stage is from Chengdu to Xi'an, Guiyang via Kunming to Dali. The construction difficulty of these two railway main lines is very high, especially the section from Chengdu to Xi'an needs to cross the Qinling Mountains, which are said to be so high that even birds cannot fly over them. Tunnel engineering is crucial! The backup plan or simultaneous repair plan is to build a main line from Chongqing via Ankang to Xi'an. We need to wait for the survey results to know the specific situation, but our current task is to put the first stage's tasks into practice."

  The Ministry of Transportation has the heaviest burden in developing and constructing four provinces, while other departments are more focused on political aspects, such as continuing to implement land reform, completing government construction at all levels, alleviating or resolving existing regional contradictions, and mobilizing the masses to launch a hot wave of building transportation infrastructure.

  "In the four newly entered provinces, each province has its own difficulties and advantages. The common difficulty is that there are too many poor people now, and those who can't afford to eat are everywhere. The different difficulty is that the farmers in Sichuan, a major agricultural province, as long as they have their own land, they can greatly alleviate their current difficulties and even gradually become rich, because the Land of Abundance is a major grain-producing province, having land can solve the problem of food and clothing."

  "Shaanxi has been plagued by war for many years, and the people are extremely impoverished. Simply carrying out land reform is not enough to solve their problems; we must provide them with sufficient grain to get them through at least two years. In the first year, they will reopen and prepare the land for farming, and in the second year, they can begin large-scale planting, which will finally solve their food and clothing problem. Yunnan has a complex terrain of high mountains and deep valleys, and there is a severe shortage of arable land; moreover, Tang Jiyao has been forcing people to plant opium for many years, so that many have become half-farmers and half-opium growers. In addition to solving their food and clothing problem, we must also get rid of the evil of opium!"

  "Guizhou is even more unimaginable, Tang Jiyao at least knew to repair roads and build bridges for trade with the French in Vietnam, but Liu Xiansheng was truly baffling. Within Guizhou's borders, there wasn't a single truck road that could be driven on, nor a bridge that could bear heavy loads. Moreover, he inherited Tang Jiyao's good points, which was to plant opium on a large scale, and the people of Guizhou were miserable because of him!" Yang Ke was listing out these problems at the party committee expansion meeting, naturally in order to come up with suitable governance plans for the autonomous region.

  "It is undeniable that all four provinces are rich in resources. Guizhou has abundant phosphorus, aluminum, coal, and hydropower; Yunnan has rich non-ferrous metals, suitable for Chinese herbal medicine cultivation, and abundant hydropower; Shaanxi has a strong comprehensive resource advantage, with oil, gas, mercury, and many other natural resources. Sichuan's agriculture is well-developed, with all resources except petroleum being very rich, especially its large hydropower reserves. So, each province has its own advantages and disadvantages, but we can see that their advantages are very obvious. As long as they grasp them well, any province can develop into a strong industrial and agricultural province comparable to Guangxi, and become an important pillar for the revival of the industry."

  With a large amount of data, Zhang Yu-sheng naturally knows the development prospects of these provinces. No matter what difficulties are currently being faced, they are all man-made factors. As long as they are handled properly, it is possible to achieve leapfrog development in these provinces and gradually bring out all their advantages.

  "Exempting all farmers from taxation and promoting increased income to become rich is the primary key to transforming the four provinces, and it is also an important task for our party and government to establish a foothold in the four provinces. Vigorously advancing the construction of the road to prosperity can improve the income situation of residents along the line to a certain extent, provided that our Ministry of Finance's monetary policy has been well implemented, and the RMB has become the only circulating currency within the five provinces of the autonomous region, so that the guidelines and policies for increasing income and becoming rich are in our hands..."

  Regarding the construction of the four provinces, Zhang Yu had no good suggestions to offer. He thought that others might have better and more comprehensive ideas, but in terms of military affairs, he still had some say. "At present, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, and other provinces are actually a blank space for government management, with bandits and rebels running rampant. Our army still has some strength to continue expanding. Simply put, our army hopes to continue advancing, and my opinion is that we should advance westward rather than eastward. There are two reasons: first, our current military strength is limited, and we cannot launch an eastern offensive, nor do we have any political justification for doing so. Second, the western region has vast territory, sparse population, rich resources, and simple folk, making it easier for our army to take root and more convenient for future construction..."

  From the time of expedition to now, the First Division has moved into Shaanxi Province, and the Second Division has completed its rest in Chengdu and Chongqing, Sichuan. With the attacking strength of one division plus sufficient logistical supplies, it is enough to break through the situation in the west, and Gansu, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and even Tibet with sparse population can be included in the autonomous region's sphere of influence. If we do not take this opportunity to continue launching attacks, once the autonomous region falls into a construction boom again, it will be unknown how long it will take to have the strength to continue expanding.

  The pattern of development in the autonomous region is to accumulate foundation, expand its sphere of influence, and then use all means to make the new force area rich, and then have the qualifications to expand its strength and wait for opportunities. From returning home to take root and develop to fighting against Lu Rongting and seizing Guangxi, "plundering" Hainan.

  After nearly five years of operation, with strong strength, coincided with the Warlord Era's warlords' struggle for power, so there was a super large-scale action to take down four provinces. It is estimated that following this habit, it will take at least another five years or more to continue expanding. Zhang Yu Ke didn't like this five-year cycle of expansion, how could he let go of the opportunity to seize the soft persimmon?

  "Take this opportunity to take down the entire western China, and it is entirely possible to expand the scope of grand construction from four provinces to seven. Gansu and Xinjiang are two major construction provinces, but Qinghai and Tibet can only be counted as half. The natural conditions are too harsh, and we may only be able to reform through political systems, change land systems, and promote new social trends. For example, Tibet is still in a serf society, and resolving the contradictions between the two opposing classes of local officials and serfs would be Tibet's best construction achievement..."

  Zhang Yu-sheng actually also deeply agrees with Zhang Yu's plan to continue advancing, if it really is necessary to wait another five years to continue expanding, the remaining few provinces in the west will experience several more years of a stateless state, which is not beneficial to the people and even more detrimental to the nation's rejuvenation. The western region has always been restricted by environmental factors in terms of construction and development speed, unlike future eastern and southeastern regions with good natural conditions, the west needs more time and energy to manage, an additional five-year construction period will lead to many differences.

  "In the four provinces, each has at least one reserve division responsible for defense and supporting local construction, with no military pressure to speak of. As for Shaanxi, it will not be under much pressure either, because at this time, there are still unresolved grudges between the two major factions of Zhili and Anhui, and the Third Division has sufficient strength to defend Guizhou and Sichuan well. With an additional reserve division dispatched, it can complete the defense work in Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Guizhou together. The First and Second Divisions formed an expeditionary force that marched into Xinjiang via Gansu, with Lanzhou, Xining, Jiayuguan, Dihua (ürümqi), and Yining as the six major cities of attack and control. As long as our side firmly grasps these six major cities, it will complete the control work over the three provinces."

  "The vast territory and sparse population tested the logistical supply capabilities of our troops. Due to the fact that the highway crossing Qinling Mountains is still a temporary field road opened by the First Division, its traffic capacity is limited and cannot meet the material needs of our troops' expedition. Generally speaking, I don't want to interfere with the normal progress of social construction in military actions, but this time we have no choice but to do so." After finishing his words, Zhang Yu took out a list from his file bag and handed it over to Zhang Yusheng, then they both browsed through it for a few moments.

  "The army has not yet moved, but the grain and grass have already gone ahead. What's more, we are going to launch a long-distance expedition to the Western Regions, so our army needs a large amount of supplies and must rely on highway transportation. I need to take away one-third of the inland waterway transportation capacity prepared for the Ministry of Transportation for military material transportation. Along the Yangtze River, warehouses will be established in Chongqing and Leshan, and 1,000 heavy trucks will be requisitioned for supply transportation... Large-scale logistics support bases will be established in Xi'an, Gansu Lanzhou, Zhangye, Xinjiang Hami, and other four regions. Two million tons of supplies can barely meet the reserve requirements of the four bases, which can also meet our military needs. Currently, the first division's self-built supply base in Xi'an has been completed, and their supplies are sufficient to support the completion of the capture of Lanzhou, so the time for our army to occupy normal social construction is about three months, not exceeding six months."

  Zhang Yu spoke in a humble and reserved tone, presenting reasonable military demands. If this were another country, perhaps it wouldn't be necessary to do so, but the autonomous region is different. As soon as the four provinces were taken down, construction began, especially in Sichuan Province, which has already experienced a construction boom due to its geographical advantages and good road conditions. This is why Zhang Yu dared to present his shocking military action plan. Mobilizing some transportation capacity and personnel for military action may delay the progress of construction to some extent, but it also holds great significance.

  "Taking down the entire West will bring benefits to both the country and its people. Why worry about a temporary delay? History will prove that this action is correct!"

  After the meeting, when only two people were left in the conference room, Zhang Yusen said to Zhang Yu, "The plan is good, but why didn't you discuss it with me beforehand?"

  While organizing the documents, Zhang Yusen smiled and looked at Zhang Yu, who was wearing military uniform, with half-closed eyes.

  "Didn't you say that domestic affairs would be handled by you, while military and industrial technology would be under my control? Besides, this time it wasn't actually necessary to mobilize so much power, because I have another consideration, which you will know about when the opportunity arises!" With that, Zhang Yu left the conference room with a sly smile.

  "It's just convenient... what's there to consider?" After muttering, Zhang Yusheng also gathered his materials and left the conference room. Both of them knew that in that vast desert, there was an unspoken secret existing.