Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1709 Rising Storm (Eighteen)

On November 1675, 11, Tao Village, Qixia County, under the jurisdiction of the Denglai Pioneering Team, was sunny.

Liao Xiaoyao, the captain of the Denglai Pioneering Team and Denglai Security Commander, rode a slick horse and came to Taocun, an increasingly important village in the Denglai Pioneering Team.

It is said that since the preliminary planning of the Jiaoyan Line and Taorong Line Railway was completed, Taocun, the intersection of the two railways, has become the focus of attention of all parties.This small village, which was formed during the Chenghua period of the former Ming Dynasty and was destroyed in the wars of the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, is now stationed in Denglai Railway Construction Headquarters, Production and Construction Corps, and the Fourth Division of Denglai New Army. In the daytime, there are huge crowds of people, and the hustle and bustle is extremely loud, which has turned a small village that was originally extremely desolate upside down.

Among these units, the Denglai Railway Construction Headquarters is in charge of the construction of the entire Jiaoyan Railway. Its headquarters is in Taocun, and it has branches in Jiaozhou and Yantai. At present, it can only organize manpower to carry out the most basic foundation leveling work. .It is worth mentioning that although these lines are planned to be light rail, Liao Xiaoyao, who has "wrong intentions", directly instructed the Denglai Railway Construction Headquarters to "high standards and strict requirements" to level the foundation, and not to lower the standards at will and fool the superiors.The people below naturally understand this, so they are currently building according to the standard of normal railways, unless they receive the next order.

The Production and Construction Corps were actually victims of the disaster from the four prefectures of the East and West.Affected by drought, locusts, earthquakes, and post-earthquake floods, they had no food and clothing, so they had to go to the east bank control area through various channels, and then they were divided into three corps, the first, second, and third production and construction corps. About 6 to 7 people.Now after many years, after excluding the various reductions in labor (injury, disease, fatigue, etc.), resettlement and immigration, there are now only about 4 people, and they have been reorganized into two production and construction corps. There are more than 3 people working on the Jiaolai Xinhe construction site, and the other less than [-] people are working on the Jiaoyan Line Railway Construction Site.

Of course, after experiencing the huge benefits of the production and construction corps model—Denglai area has always lacked such transferred production and construction teams. After all, ordinary people can only perform hard labor during the slack season, which has relatively large limitations—also trying to find ways To make up for their vacancies, after all, according to the plan, these people will gradually immigrate to the east coast in the next three years, and there will be no one to work by then.

But how difficult it is to supplement the labor force!A place as big as Denglei cannot be filled by more than 100 million people. It can be said that there is not much surplus labor.Therefore, in order to maintain the organizational structure and scale of this army, we must think of other methods, such as the Qing army prisoners who were captured in various battlefields and have not been redeemed, such as the anti-East Bank elements who ransacked their homes, such as labor camp prisoners, etc. Although the limited number may be far from filling the huge gap, it is better than nothing.

In addition, we have to mention the 50th Division of the Denglai New Army stationed here.In view of the extremely important geographical location of Taocun in the future-it is located at the intersection of Jiaoyan Line and Taorong Line Railway, more than 4000 kilometers north of Yantai, the power center of Judenglai, and less than [-] kilometers west of Zhaoyuan Gold Mine. The heartland - so this place has been the headquarters of the fourth division of the Denglai New Army, which is in the process of being formed. In the future, at least three to four thousand people will be stationed here to protect the security of this core area.

Speaking of the Fourth Division of the Denglai New Army, it is actually another unit that was included in the formation plan after the Third Division of the Denglai New Army was formed.Since the Denglei Security Command exhausted all resources (mainly equipment, officers and technical arms) when forming the third division of the new army, the fourth division was delayed and difficult to produce, and there was an extreme shortage of officers and non-commissioned officers. There are no technical arms such as guns, artillery, etc., so now, this master only looks like a mere thousand people, which is very shabby.

However, the Jiaolaixinhe defense line in the prison has a huge thirst for troops, and this division has to be formed. After all, you can't rely on those servant division troops that are already degrading for the rest of your life, right?When the combat effectiveness of the Qing Army, the Shun Army, and the Ming Army were all rising steadily, it was time for the people on the east coast to need some so-called new troops to compete with them. The First Division of the Liaodong New Army, the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army, The Third Division of the Denglai New Army, the Fourth Division of the Denglai New Army, the proposed Fifth Division of the Zhejiang New Army, and the Sixth Division of the Heishui New Army will be the main combat forces of the East Bank people in the Far East San Francisco in the next few decades. .

In Liao Xiaoyao's plan, no matter how difficult the finances are, how tight the equipment is, and how short the personnel are, the Fourth Division of the Denglai New Army must be formed as soon as possible within three years, so as to replace those semi-independent servants and consolidate the glue. The safety of the Rhine River defense line.

When Liao Xiaoyao came to Taocun today, the first thing he did was not to inspect the railway construction site, but to inspect nearly a thousand officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division of the New Army.Liao Xiaoyao was speechless looking at these young officers and soldiers who were so young that they were too young, and those who were old and wrinkled on their foreheads. Liao Xiaoyao was speechless. After the officers and soldiers were dispersed and added to the divisions of the new army, the people from the east bank had to find a way from the retired officers and non-commissioned officers when they formed the fourth division of the Denglai new army.

Some of these soldiers in the countryside have been returning home to farm for several years, and now they have been recalled urgently, and they have become professional soldiers again, and have played the role of training officers to train newly recruited soldiers. What Liao Xiaoyao saw now These weather-beaten veterans who seem to be social people are just that.In addition, some of those young people are Bingtuanbao cadres who graduated from the local area, and some are students of Yantai College (formerly Anti-Qing Military and Political University) who are determined to join the army. They look very immature.

In short, the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Division of the New Army is undoubtedly relatively limited at present.Their biggest role in Taocun is probably to suppress the place (to urge the people in the Production and Construction Corps to work hard) and to guard the supplies.As for letting them go to battle, it is simply a joke with their lives.

Regarding this point, Liao Xiaoyao knew it well.He only hopes that this division can be formed as soon as possible, and that it can finish its training here in Taocun with peace of mind, and then move to a small-scale, low-intensity battlefield to practice and accumulate some experience before it can be relied on as the main force.

But fortunately, the series of wars between the Qing Dynasty and the East Bank due to Liaodong have gradually subsided.Now, apart from the Southern Exploration Team still repeatedly entangled with the Hangzhou camp of the Qing army, the flames of war on Liaodong and Denglai have basically ceased to burn. It is said that Denglai was originally the direction where the Qing army feinted, and the largest battle scale was also However, the appearance of more than 3000 people—the military pressure has been greatly relieved, and even some servant army officers and soldiers who were quickly transferred to Laizhou Capital in an emergency have begun to return home in batches, so the [-]th Division of the Denglai New Army still has plenty of time To build, to perfect.

This is not only the luck of the Fourth Division, but also the luck of the East Coast people.Liao Xiaoyao once read a report submitted to him by the gendarmerie. The report pointed out that after this failed offensive, the Qing army may not choose to attack Liaodong or land again for a long period of time in the future. Le area.Their military machine will once again turn their focus to the south, trying to wipe out Shunguo, the only local separatist regime that can barely become an opponent, and then unify the whole country, and then fight a decisive battle with the people on the east coast.

The intelligence analysis officials of the gendarmerie optimistically predict that in the next ten years, the Qing Dynasty will face a series of troubles, such as the handling of its own internal separatist warlord Wu Sangui and his heirs, the threat of the rising Oirat Mongolia to the grassland, and even the The rise of the power of the civil and military ministers of the Han nationality in their own country, etc., each item is a test of wisdom. They have to spend a lot of energy on these matters, and they will naturally relax their suppression of the people on the east coast, and may even seek Peace and even some degree of cooperation with the Eastern Republics.

Liao Xiaoyao deeply believed in this, and asked the staff of the Denglai Security Command to formulate a series of war plans, including military strikes, population collection, etc., in case the situation changed drastically and it was too late to make a plan. Response—Of course, this is just a plan. Any important decision in the Far East San Francisco must first obtain the approval of the local executive committee, otherwise the problem will become serious.

After inspecting the barracks, Liao Xiaoyao, surrounded by his entourage, finally came to the Taocun Railway Station under construction for inspection.Since the future is the intersection of two railway lines, Taocun Railway Station occupies a rather large area. Liao Xiaoyao looked around and saw construction sites everywhere, with "platform" and "platform" written one by one. The wooden signs of "Mechanical Repair Factory", "Waiting Hall", "Storage Base", "Police Station" and "Talk Water Station" are inserted on the ground, indicating the future use of each piece of land.

After Liao Xiaoyao saw it, he felt very happy, pointed to the area in front of him, and said to Wang Shichuan, the Commander of Jiaolai River Defense, who came over from Haicangkou Fortress to report to him: "I feel very comfortable seeing these. It may be the last major project of my tenure, and I may not even see the day when these buildings and railroads are completed. But I still hope that even after I am gone, you will continue to work hard to make the plastic smoke line and possibly the future Do a good job of building the Toei Line Railway. You know, railways have always been a multiplier of our war power. With railways, our troops and military resources can be easily mobilized everywhere to form a strategy against the enemy. advantage."

Speaking of this, Liao Xiaoyao vaguely recalled that when later generations read history books, they read about the developed railway network of Germany during World War I. It is transported everywhere, so that it can always form advantages in various materials and personnel locally. This is the strategic advantage brought by the railway, and the East Coast People's Congress can emulate it.

"Of course, war is not the norm after all, and peace is the mainstream. After the construction of these two railways, the population, money, and supplies of the entire Denglai will be close to the two sides of the railway in the future. Therefore, the Jiaoyan Line and the Taorong Line Railway are also The economic multiplier of our Denglai Pioneering Team area. Now the entire region has been converted from military to civilian (that is, the military control status has been lifted and the local government has been established) for some years. The local economic development can only be faster and faster. In the future We rely on the railway to get the money for raising soldiers and officials for us." Liao Xiaoyao added later.

Of course, what he didn't mention is that the massive revenue from the railway in the future may not be exclusively enjoyed by the Denglai pioneering team government.After all, the Denglai Pioneering Team and the Far East San Francisco alone are not capable of building these two railways. They must also introduce professional talents and funds, such as the Central Railway Company and the Southern Cone Railway Company.But judging from the current situation, the former responds slowly and is not very interested (maybe they want to avoid policy risks and do not want to fight hard with the executive committee), while the latter responds very positively. The cooperation with the Denglai Pioneering Team It has already gone deep, and the two parties have even agreed to work together. Through various means, the Executive Committee "extrajudicially favors" and specially approves the Southern Railway Company to build the Jiaoyan Line and the Taorong Line here.

Liao Xiaoyao had deduced it carefully, and felt that the probability of this matter being passed was quite high, so he did not build the light rail line as planned, but constructed it according to ordinary railway standards as soon as it came up. After all, the Mara track The difference between the car and the Star of La Plata train is still huge!

"By the way, what's the latest move of the Qing army across the street? My river defense commander." After talking about the railway, Liao Xiaoyao finally brought the topic back to the military.

"Commander-in-chief, very good. The Qing army is very honest now. It has been a long time since our reconnaissance cavalry saw a Qing army with more than 3000 people moving in the wild. The last battle was three months ago when Sabsu led the army Attacking Haicangkou Fortress, but it was a hasty fight for a long time and then withdrew, it seemed more like an errand." After thinking for a while, Wang Shichuan replied: "I think Denglai will enjoy a long period of time. Peace, the Qing army has actually given up on launching a large-scale war with us here, just like the Liaodong battlefield where the war has gradually subsided. I even wonder if they will come over with a shy face and say they want to sign with us again A peace deal, I really think they can do it."

"Then the ones who are still fighting now are only in Zhejiang. Our southern pioneer team, the Hangzhou Daying of the Qing Dynasty, and the Lu Wang regime in southern Zhejiang are still entangled. But this is also necessary. Why do we not have enough immigrants now? You see, in the immigrant transport season that just started, a considerable part of the immigrants transported came from the Qing people who were just captured by the Southern Exploration Team in Songjiang Mansion," Liao Xiaoyao said. : "I hope they can seize the opportunity and gather as many people as possible."

(End of this chapter)