Restarting life in Siheyuan

Instead of waiting for Uncle Kong's call, Guo Ming received news that Li Xiaojun had successfully led the team to complete the mission, and sent back four words, "A great harvest!"

Zhu Xuefeng smiled with satisfaction. With this unexpected wealth, he no longer had to worry about the funding problem of the autonomous region. Now under the governance of Yang Maosheng, the autonomous region's industry has basically taken shape, and agriculture has recovered significantly. It is estimated that more than 1500 tons of grain can be sold every six months, and as more and more arable land is reclaimed, the output will continue to increase.

Chicken and pig farming have become large-scale, and the problem of centralized breeding has been solved. They can provide a large amount of meat, bristles, down, etc. Relying on the good geographical location, a large amount of sugarcane and fish ponds will also usher in a good harvest. The hilltop that no one cared about has also been transformed into a medicinal material base that supplies medicinal materials exclusively to the Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical Factory under the efforts of several uncles.

The processed wild vegetables will also be sold to Fuso through Hong Kong. When the port construction starts next year, the large amount of timber in stock will bring in a lot of wealth. Yang Maosheng has changed his profit estimate. With a small population in the autonomous region, he will strive to earn back 7 to 10 million US dollars next year. He no longer needs Zhu Xuefeng to advance funds for development.

Another piece of good news is that the policy of forcibly taking over all industries in the south scared countless people. Many people sold their assets at a low price before it was implemented and fled to Jiesha, bringing with them a population of nearly 100,000 and considerable wealth. More importantly, they brought with them many small business owners and manufacturing bosses. Because of the port blockade, these people had no choice but to flee north. With word of mouth from people who visited and returned, the appeal of the north surpassed that of the south for the first time.

Of course, more people fled to Mandele, including almost all private banks. These people are of Chinese descent and want to use the highway to escape to the country. The current Guoming has changed every few months. It has not only attracted capital flight from the south, but the ancient ethnic groups in the western mountainous areas have also become clearly close after several months of understanding and observation, making it possible to accelerate a breakthrough to the west.

The only thing that affects the realization of this goal is that the power of the South towards the North has become intolerable, and a larger-scale war is brewing and is now gathering dark clouds.

But now the military commanders of the autonomous region are full of confidence, saying that if the enemy attacks again, they will definitely fight back resolutely and at least capture Mandele. Song Yan asked if it is possible to capture Mandele. According to the plan of the autonomous region at that time, it was best not to touch Mandele for fear of attracting the attention of international forces.

Last time, they took over Mogok, which was actually not far from Mandele. Song Yan and his men arranged strict defensive fortifications in Mogok City to block the enemy from going north again. The enemy also gathered all the defeated soldiers, almost more than 10,000 people, and stationed themselves in Mandele, no longer retreating.

Zhu Xuefeng thought for a long time and finally replied, "Determinedly take it down!"

It was already November when Lin Na, Xia Yuhong and Xie Junjie returned from military training.

The South will never tolerate the existence of an organization that can accept defectors, so no matter how the autonomous region keeps a low profile and does not cause trouble, it will always be a concern for the South. Wanting peaceful coexistence was just Zhu Xuefeng's unilateral wish before. Without defeating the forces in the South, it is impossible to reduce the risk of an enemy at the gates at any time. Zhu Xuefeng finally decided to take action.

"Send this blueprint back as well. After they open the sea route, they should start construction according to the blueprint as soon as possible. When the construction is completed, notify me as soon as possible."

Zhu Xuefeng threw down the blueprint and floated away. The blueprint was not sealed. The little girl of the Yang family was confused. What kind of thing was he going to build? Although there were detailed instructions below, the little girl didn't dare to read it at all. She hurriedly took out an envelope and sealed it. After sealing it, she marked it. After thinking about it, she decided to register it in the account.

Although she didn't know what it was used for, His Highness's attitude determined that this was definitely a huge secret. Remembering the clan leader's instructions, the girl carefully put the drawings into the safe and locked it up. Then she drafted a telegram, carefully considered and revised it, and sent it out. As a foreign affairs agency stationed in Beijing, it had the right to use wireless coded telegrams publicly.

"The leader has indeed agreed, see." Song Yan excitedly handed the telegram to Li Xiaojun. After reading it, Li Xiaojun passed it to the Zhou Laoba brothers, and finally to Yang Maosheng.

"Since His Highness has made up his mind, we, the Civil Affairs Department, will resolutely carry it out without hesitation. However, if we really want to capture Mander, I hope you will not disturb the merchants, bankers and other wealthy people who have escaped. We, the Civil Affairs Department, have great use for these people."

Li Xiaojun was very dissatisfied with Yang Maosheng's bargaining at this time.

"I know, I know. You are not unaware of your Highness's military orders. Who dares? Well, without further ado, let's start preparing. This time we have decided to take the initiative. Since they are going to attack, we will strike first. Mandele's army was defeated last time. This time we will not wait for their reinforcements to arrive and startle them. What do you think?"

Zhou Xingguo and Zhou Laoba were straightforward. "Since the leader asked us to make our own decision, what are we waiting for? Let's call a meeting and start planning. Speed ​​is of the essence. Hopefully, we can celebrate the Spring Festival in Mandele before the Spring Festival."

Mandele has a very special geographical location. There is a national highway directly connecting it to the country. After taking over this place, the connection with the country will inevitably be further strengthened. Although the road from Pagang to the country has been opened, it is relatively narrow and rugged due to the influence of the mountains. Mandele is much better.

A more crucial point is that after the domestic railway department came to inspect, they said that building the railway to Pagang along this small road would be difficult, slow and require high investment. If it were to come from Mandele, although the distance would be a bit far, everything would not be a problem and it could also drive the sand transport.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Song Yan stretched out his hand to stop everyone from talking and put forward his own request.

"Mandere was also an ancient capital. We have to plan carefully to take it without causing too much damage and casualties. At the same time, we have to ensure that this group of frightened birds is completely wiped out. You just saw that His Highness has a big project on the beach. Although we don't know what it is, there is definitely a serious shortage of labor. What do you think?"

Yang Maosheng said excitedly, "Of course, there are still nearly 10,000 of these people. Even the road to the west is seriously short of labor, haha."

Li Xiaojun knew that Lao Yang was not aware of the military commander's requirement that others should keep their mouths shut when assigning tasks, but he was somewhat dissatisfied with Lao Yang for staring at the prisoners who had not yet been captured.

"Aren't there going to be a lot of Koreans coming to help build the road? I think you should have no shortage of manpower for road construction, Lao Yang, the chief's project must be a big one."

Li Xiaojun directly brought up Zhu Xuefeng, so Yang Maosheng had to shut up. Li Xiaojun winked at Song Yan, so Song Yan had to pretend not to see it.

"Old Yang, the battle hasn't started yet, so let's not worry about the prisoners yet. The Koreans will arrive in the next few days, so we can hurry up and build the road. Since there's no more trouble in the west, we can only use a small number of troops to guard it, and transfer the rest of the troops to the front line. This time we're going to use a thunderbolt to completely stun them."

"I don't know much about military affairs. Are you really going to leave more troops in the west? If those ethnic minorities come to cause trouble again, my workers won't be able to afford casualties, and the pensions won't be enough to pay. Don't look at me like that. The hard goods we brought back have uses, not pensions."

Seeing Li Xiaojun staring at him with a bad look, Yang Maosheng knew that Li Xiaojun wanted to make a fuss about the hard goods he had just seized.

"Those things are worth at least three million dollars, okay? What project do you have that costs so much? If you don't explain clearly, I will report to the chief and remove you."

"I'm not afraid to tell you that His Highness has already made arrangements for this money. He wants to build four factories and a port, and he also wants to keep some for the construction of railways. It's still not enough."

Li Xiaojun opened his mouth wide, "Four factories? Aren't all the industries basically complete now?"

"A fertilizer plant is about to be built. It is said that the fertilizer will arrive after the New Year. There are only a few months left. Time is very tight, but His Highness wants to build it by the sea, so this road must be repaired as soon as possible."

"I seem to have heard of it. What else? Not to mention the ports and railways, we know all about them." Li Xiaojun continued to ask.

"The other one is a military factory. You have seen the message sent by His Highness. It is a 4 million order, and this is the first batch. It must be built in conjunction with the fertilizer factory. Some materials must be provided by the fertilizer factory, so it must also be built by the sea."

These people had received the news a few days ago and knew some of the situation. Only Song Yan knew it best and was the most surprised. The leader had secured an order of four million US dollars for such an inconspicuous thing.

"Besides, these two factories don't cost much money. Don't think I don't understand." Li Xiaojun decided to get to the bottom of it and pressed on.

"Another is a shipyard. Now that we have a port, we can't be without ships. We have to build a shipyard, even if it's just fishing boats. Not to mention the cargo we will need in the future when the autonomous region arrives.

"Well, it is necessary. What about the last one?"

"The last one is an oil refinery!"

"That's not right. There is a small refinery in Jiesha, and now there is one behind the oil field behind Pagang. Why build another one?"

"This is not just an oil refinery, it is also responsible for other chemical products. This refinery will also be built on the seashore, it will be large in scale, and many equipment will have to be imported, which will cost a lot of money. So I said that these four factories plus the port and railway, three million is far from enough."

Li Xiaojun still couldn't understand. "Why build a large refinery on the seashore? There are oil fields on the sea? They haven't explored them yet. The Ministry of Petrochemicals only helped find two small oil fields on land, and then they worked hard to transport the oil there for refinery? Old Yang, what's going on in your head?"

"Xiaojun, don't ask anymore. Let's discuss Mandele and stay on topic. I know about this refinery. The chief bought oil overseas, and you were there at the time."

Li Xiaojun slapped his head and said, "Oh, I remember now. The chief also mentioned the future oil sales in South Asia. Haha, I really forgot about it. Old Yang, I'm sorry, I was just suspicious. But you don't have to worry about the west. Not to mention that those people in the west have been appeased by the chief's Senior Brother Bai and others, so they won't make trouble again, and even if they do, we don't have to worry."

He looked at Song Yan and saw that Song Yan did not stop him, so he continued, "I am not afraid to tell you that those sticks who came to build the road are all capable troops, but they have not been issued weapons. If they were given weapons, they could directly help us to kill our way to the west. It is because the leader is kind-hearted and does not want to cause killing. Otherwise, there would not be so many problems. I would have led my men to break through long ago."

"Okay, okay, stop bragging. We haven't pushed it to the beach for more than a year. Let's not talk about this now. Let's see how we do it this time."

Song Yan stopped Li Xiaojun from speaking and went into the military conference room together to hold a small-scale military meeting. Yang Maosheng attended as the quartermaster.

No one knew the content of the meeting, but those who paid close attention could still feel something different. In the following week, every night, there were always dense vehicles passing by, and they all seemed to be converging in the south direction.

Jiesha is another line for the Southern Army to go north. In addition to Mandele through Mogok, there is also an abandoned road from the south. This time, a large number of people from the south escaped directly from this road. Now, like Mogok, it serves as two lines to resist the harassment of the Southern Army.

Of course, even if they broke through Mogok, if they wanted to go deeper, they could only go from Mogok to Jiesha first, because the road from Mogok to the north had been abandoned for many years and was completely impassable. There was no way by water, as the autonomous region built a dam upstream.

Among the nearly 100,000 people who have poured in, there are many intelligence personnel. Although the autonomous region has taken some preventive measures, it is difficult to ensure the leakage of information. After several conscription expansions, the autonomous region now has 8,000 formal armed forces, more than 20,000 militiamen and 4,000 reserve armed forces, which is no small matter.

Of course, the more than 20,000 militiamen do not have suitable weapons and equipment, and many of them are only equipped with primitive muskets, so they can barely go hunting. But the autonomous region's ability to mobilize people should not be underestimated, because life is getting better year by year, and the autonomous region enjoys a high prestige among the grassroots people.

The people of the autonomous region are now unprecedentedly united. After all, it is the autonomous region that has allowed them to have enough food to eat after years of hunger, and also to have spare money to buy cloth and clothes.

For the first time, equality among all ethnic groups made the poor feel dignified. Leased land made the workers feel that they were the masters of the land. The rent of 10% was unimaginably low. Children's education became compulsory and they could get timely treatment when they were sick. Although it was not free, it was very cheap. All this was brought to everyone by the autonomous region in less than two years.

Although the work was hard and intense, no one complained. A little hardship was acceptable as long as life got better and better. The autonomous region had a small population but abundant resources. I really don't know how a region with such rich agricultural resources became one of the least developed regions in the world in later generations.

For the Chinese, who have a large population and limited land, this place is a paradise with a pleasant climate and abundant resources. According to the chief minister, it is no problem for the autonomous region to feed tens of millions of people.

Of course, current productivity and production technology are still not high. You must know that the territory currently controlled by the autonomous region can easily feed a population of more than 20 million in the future.

"You mean, the number of armed personnel in Jiesha City has increased significantly? The Northern Army may launch an active attack? Are you sure?"

"Yes, my people sent a message that the guards of Jiesha City have doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 in less than a week. This is a bad sign. We think that the enemy may rely on the defense of Jiesha City and send a small force directly to the south to harass us. Our defense here is much weaker than Mandele, and we need to strengthen our defense. The last battle showed that the enemy likes to make some small moves, and it is very likely to launch a small attack this time."

The commander was silent for a while. The southern army was now badly damaged, and it was difficult to find someone offline to block the enemy's sabotage and attacks.

"Where is Mogok? What information do you have?"

"Mogok is special. None of our people can get in now. But through observation, there seems to be no change. It is unlikely that they will harass Mandele from Mogok to the south. Mandele has more than 10,000 defenders. Not everyone can touch it."

"Don't trust them too much. They are a defeated army without courage. They don't deserve to be called soldiers. Jiesha only used 2,000 people to defeat them and captured several thousand. I am more worried that they will sneak into Chencang and attack Mandele. After all, this place is too important."

"But our Operations Department doesn't think so. The Li's troops have no choice but to give up Mandele. Everyone knows that this place is important, and no one dares to take it. It's too hot to handle. Besides, if the Northern Army takes Mandele, it will face threats from both us and Li's troops. I think a mature military commander will not make such a decision."

He glanced at the general in deep thought and continued his report.

"What they want is peaceful coexistence. Large-scale attacks are not what they are good at. Judging from their previous battles, they are more passively defensive. The change this time may be to strengthen defense on the one hand, and to directly harass us from Jiesha on the other hand, to interrupt our deployment, or to increase bargaining chips for the next negotiation."

"What you said makes some sense. I still want to hear the opinions of the entire Operations Department. Go ahead and make arrangements. Tomorrow, we will discuss this incident together and come up with some targeted plans. This time we must succeed and no more accidents can happen. Our morale cannot withstand another failure. And the damn merchants and banks took away too much wealth. We don't have the wealth to support the next large-scale Northern Expedition."

The failure of several large-scale operations almost put the southern economy into trouble. In order to ease the embarrassing situation, the South formulated a process of comprehensive nationalization and prepared to reap a large amount of wealth from the people. Unexpectedly, the news leaked at the beginning, and countless wealthy people abandoned their properties and factories and ran away. The southern economy is now in jeopardy.

Although the factories and workers were still there, they had no funds and orders and all operations had stopped. Shops were closed, banks went bankrupt, students and workers marched, and the Northern Army controlled a large amount of arable land. After trade between the North and the South was cut off, prices of everything, starting with food, soared. The South had to use harsh repression to barely control the situation.

Now the population of the South is dozens of times that of the North, but in the eyes of the South, these people are a burden. They march and protest every day. They are a group of brainless people who use their mouths to assert their justice.

These are all caused by the damned Li Mi army and the autonomous region now entrenched in the north. Li Mi's army is no longer in direct confrontation with the south, and the threat is no longer there, but the autonomous region in the north must be resolved, otherwise, there is no possibility of economic recovery in the south. (End of this chapter)