The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

"Hmm? They'll leave again?"

"Oh, God knows. So, we might have to send comrades to these people's homes to bring their families here. If the reactionaries knew about this, it might be detrimental to their families, so it's safer to bring them here. We'll see how things go.

"Look, Chairman, there they are."

Zhang Yinghao looked over and saw a few young people talking there with empty hands. They must have put their luggage away.

Zhang Yinghao walked over in two steps, extending his right hand as if to shake hands with them.

"Haha, welcome, welcome. I'm the head of our base here. My name is Zhang Yinghao, and this is Comrade Zhang Feng, a member of our Military Commission. On behalf of all the people in the base, I welcome you. Oh, you can call me by my full name, Zhang Yinghao. I don't have a given name, so you can just call me Yinghao."

Zhang Yinghao now represented all the people in the base without hesitation, but he did not feel uncomfortable at all, because now if the base wanted to ask who could represent all the people, there would be absolutely no one more suitable than him, Zhang Yinghao.

When these people who had returned from overseas heard that Zhang Yinghao was the most powerful person in the base, their already excited hearts became even more excited. After saying some words of gratitude, Zhang Yinghao shook hands with them.

Then he said: "This is not a place to talk. Let's go, let's go. Comrade Shilin, you can come with us. It's getting late now. You must be tired after traveling all day. My home is not far from here. Let's go to my home for a meal first, as a welcome to everyone. After dinner, everyone can come back to take a shower and rest. Please, go this way.

Haha, don't feel awkward. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll all be working in the base area, and you can treat it like your own home. I saw Comrade Chen Yiwei's letter and knew you were coming, so I came here right away.

I don't know if Comrade Chen Yiwei has introduced you to this base, but it's only been established a little over a year. Your arrival is like timely rain. We're in need of everything here, especially high-caliber talent like you, with your insights and abilities. Thank you for traveling so far to this inland area.

"Thank you, it's a great honor, it's a great honor."

Zhang Yinghao waved his hand and said, "No, no, think about the current situation in our country and the current situation in other countries. When you compare the two, you will know that you have paid a lot to come to our base.

"What are your names and where are you from?

"Yinghao, Comrade Yinghao, my name is Li Jie, and I'm from Guangdong. The two behind us, the one in front is Qin Han, and the one behind is Bai Tianlong, both from Fujian. The one behind is Lin Tianli, from Jiangsu. The last two are from Hunan, the one on the left is Chen Qizhi, and the one on the right is Deng Haidong.

“Do you have other classmates in the United States?

“Yes, but not many. Some haven’t graduated yet, so they haven’t returned. Some don’t plan to come back.

"Alas, everyone has their own aspirations, and we can't force them. I wonder if you brought any books back this time?

"Chen Yiwei told us about this matter. We brought back all the professional books and bought some books at the bookstore. However, those books have not arrived yet and will be shipped to us together with the machines.

"Okay, okay, okay, Comrade Chen Yiwei is thoughtful, and you have worked hard. You can ask Comrade Bao Shilin behind you to reimburse you for the money you spent on the books.

"No need. Chen Yiwei gave me the money to buy the books."

"Oh, that's good. But the books you bought are probably all written in English, right?

“Yes, almost all of them are in English, and there aren’t many books in other languages.

"It seems that you have to be translators in your free time. Otherwise, considering the situation in our base, it will take a long time for us to understand English books.

“That’s as it should be; people who are not involved in the translation cannot translate those technical terms.

"Yes, it's good that you understand. It seems that you are prepared to endure hardships when you return to your country. I won't say much more."

"Come in, please. This is my home now. It's not spacious enough, so please find a seat for yourself."

At this time, everyone in the family came out to greet the guests. Zhang Yinghao took out the kettle to make tea, poured a cup for everyone, asked another guard to help with the cooking, and then started chatting with everyone again.

"Did you go back home when you returned home?

"Two of us went home on the way, but the six of us didn't. We changed boats and went directly to Chongqing, and then we ended up here."

"Well, our base's confidentiality is generally pretty good. But I still want to ask for your opinion. We could send someone to your hometown to bring your parents and siblings to our base. What do you think?"

After saying this, Zhang Yinghao carefully observed their expressions. It was only then that he suddenly realized something: those who could afford to send their children abroad to study weren't ordinary families. Some were landlords, while others were compradors and capitalists. Generally speaking, they weren't afraid of the current Qing court, and relocating a large family wasn't easy.

However, Zhang Yinghao had already made up his mind. Regardless of his family background, he didn't intend to kill all the landlords. He would only kill those who had committed the most heinous crimes. And these people had to work in the base. After all, talent was hard to come by, and only those who found it were his own. The base didn't have the ability to cultivate such talent at the moment.

"There's no need to rush to answer. First, familiarize yourself with our base area. If you have any specific requests, tell Comrade Bao Shilin and he'll help you. Come, have some tea.

"Everyone, have some tea. This is the Qingming tea we picked ourselves. It tastes pretty good. Coming to our base is like coming home. If you have any problems, you can come to me first."

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to become dull, Bao Shilin came out to liven up the atmosphere.

"Know.

"it is good.

"I wonder how much you know about electricity?

The meal passed in a flash, and Zhang Yinghao had a general understanding of their situation. After dinner, he asked the guards to take them back to the dormitory to rest. Bao Shilin and Zhang Feng stayed behind to discuss the whereabouts of these people.

Zhang Yinghao was the first to say, "Comrade Yiwei did a great job. He brought us some top students. If it were just us country bumpkins, how could we know so much? We must give Chen Yiwei a credit."

"Yes, I asked about them when I met them. They were also outstanding talents in various professions selected by Comrade Yiwei. We should indeed commend Yiwei.

"Do we place them based on their major?

"Shilin, go ask them tomorrow morning if they have any ideas. I've positioned them to solve our problems. In my opinion, the best place for them is to be teachers at our base, helping us cultivate more talent. While they're teaching, we can ask them to research and analyze any problems we have, so we don't waste their talent."

"Being a teacher is really good. This way they will have more time to translate the books they brought back. They said the books they bought haven't arrived yet, but they also brought a few books with them. They said they are all English books. Such thick books will take a lot of time to translate.

"Again, respect their personal opinions. If they agree, I plan to set up a temporary training school. As for the teachers, it's fine with just a few of them for now, or we can find a few more from elsewhere. Or we could make it a comprehensive school, combining the nursing school, medical school, and our previous technical training school, so it looks a bit like a university."

"Well, forget about the medical and nursing schools. It's definitely a good idea to combine the several training schools we run. This will save a lot of manpower and resources. We can also separate them later if we have more teachers and students."

gaa

Chapter 121:

At this time, these international students were lying on their beds and having a conversation about Zhang Yinghao and the base.

"Oh! I didn't expect what Chen Yiwei said to be true. The leader of this base is so young, maybe only 17 or 18? Younger than us, it's incredible. You said they always call him Chairman, Chairman, what does Chairman mean?"

"Hey, this is what they call don't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the depth of the ocean. What is the Chairman? Haven't you seen the position he holds? Just think about it and you'll know what it means.

"I don't think this base is that good."

"Don't say that, or people will think you're a country bumpkin.

"Well, why?"

How much water did you drink today? How much food did you eat?

"Ah! This water is definitely for drinking when you are thirsty. This meal, I ate three bowls of rice. This chicken meal at Zhang Yinghao's house is very good.

"Brother, don't you know that a meal of chicken has already bought us money? And we are suffering from a severe drought here! Think about what the situation was like on the way here?"

"Oh! Oh oh oh oh oh! Don't say anymore, I understand. Now that you put it that way, it's really not that simple."

"It's not that it's not simple, it's extremely impressive. Don't you think about what we saw along the way? The Yangtze River is known as the Golden Waterway, but how many people on both sides of the river are not naked? Look at our base, it's only been less than a year, and how many people are naked? Didn't you smell anything on the way back?"

“What does it smell like?

“The aroma of stir-fried meat.

"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember it. It seems like this smell wafted from several houses. I didn't notice it at the time, but now that I think about it, it's definitely different."

"Yes, that's why this base is so important. Don't talk nonsense, or others might think you're ignorant. Of course, this base can't be compared to the United States, but for our country, it's already a great achievement.

"I wonder how our work will be arranged specifically?"

"If you have any plans, tell Bao Shilin. They should consider it. Otherwise, just follow their instructions. They definitely won't let us eat idle meals here, otherwise they wouldn't have come all the way to find us and come back to serve them."

"I don't have any specific plans. What I've learned may not be used until the time comes at the base, and I don't know when that will be."

"Then I'll be a translator first. There are so many books waiting to be translated. I can't translate that many books in a month."

"That's true. I think we should suggest that the base find a few translators to translate the books. We can then check them at the end. It will be faster. Otherwise, it won't be enough just for us."

"That's possible, but we should all have something to do. Chen Yiwei is even buying a factory in the United States. I was shocked at first. When did Chen Yiwei become so generous? I didn't expect he had such a big backer.

"Where does their money come from?"

N

"Sleep, sleep, so you'll have the energy to work tomorrow. Find out tomorrow where the money for this base comes from and tell me." "Sleep, sleep."

The final plan for the allocation of these people is that those who have something to do with weapons will go to make weapons, those who have matching majors in other fields will go to work in corresponding places, and those who don't have matching majors will be arranged nearby and serve as teachers in the base training school at the same time.

Zhang Yinghao woke up from a nap and suddenly felt that establishing a university was not realistic for the time being. He decided to wait until his territory had a province. The most important thing was that if he established a university, where would he find students? So this matter had to be postponed.

After dealing with this matter, Zhang Yinghao breathed a sigh of relief. Every additional builder made the base stronger. Every student he brought back from a Western country might not have any impact on the Western countries, but at least these people would no longer work for Western countries, and Zhang Yinghao felt a little relieved.

Zhang Yinghao's biggest confidence lies in the army, a force he had personally built. Judging from the current situation in attacking the landlords, there shouldn't be any problems. However, Zhang Yinghao's biggest worry is also the army. He has always felt that, whether in his past life or this, the Chinese army lacks a unique quality.

What qualities? The Chinese army had never experienced line-up executions. Western countries during the Napoleonic era were known for their line-up executions, where troops were arranged in square formations, facing outward. Because firearms of the era were designed for short range, it was practically possible to fire at chest level. Line-up executions were a test of discipline and obedience, and it was during this period that Westerners began to emphasize discipline.

Countries that haven't experienced the tactic of line execution lack a sense of continuity in their national character. China's era of line execution was abruptly cut short by the Qing dynasty, which then thrust China directly into the era of breech-loading rifles. During the Taiping Rebellion, the Hunan and Huai armies were merely militias, held little standing within the Qing ruling class and denied political power, ultimately becoming part of the masses.

How much courage did it take to execute soldiers at gunpoint? Modern people can't imagine it. There's no romance, only bloody terror. There's a great terror between life and death, and that's why many of the Western nationalist concepts were developed during this era.

In modern times, when Chinese troops parade, their marches are meticulously executed and powerful. Zhang Yinghao wonders if Westerners see these parades as mere showmanship, but he certainly believes the Chinese military needs to improve in this area. Why was the 1984 military parade so breathtaking? It's because those troops, having weathered battles, possessed a natural aura of valor.

Zhang Yinghao didn't know whether such an army would collapse when faced with the tactic of line-up shooting? In any case, Zhang Yinghao didn't hold much hope, because in Zhang Yinghao's opinion, isn't line-up shooting tactic seeking death? Only a fool would do that. If Zhang Yinghao's leader used the tactic of line-up shooting during training, Zhang Yinghao would definitely be a deserter.

If Zhang Yinghao himself thought so, there must be others who shared the same sentiment. It wasn't even a matter of fear of dying in the army; it was simply a feeling of folly. This kind of thinking was even more common among Chinese people, and it was the reason Zhang Yinghao was most concerned about the military.

Coming back to his senses, Zhang Yinghao thought about the disciplinary issues that Zhang Feng mentioned. The problem exposed by Long Tongxu killing the landlord was extremely serious. However, Long Tongxu's way of dealing with it was simple and rough, but it was in line with the Chinese people's usual habits, which is the simple concept of killing for life and paying debts with life.

However, when he discovered that the landlord had killed his family, he did not report it to the organization first, but took matters into his own hands. Although it cannot be said that Long Tongxu did not trust the organization, he did not report it to the organization first and waited for the organization to give him a reply before killing people without authorization. This is a big problem in itself.

Zhang Yinghao felt a bit of a headache when he thought about this. Traditional Chinese practices had many flaws, especially in rural areas. Clan power and patriarchal authority were not the only issues. The traditional Chinese concept of good and bad people was the most crucial distinction. You could say anything about anyone, but you couldn't call them a bad person, because traditionally, good people could handle bad people with impunity.

In arguments, fights, or conflict resolution, one party will always try to prove themselves good or the other bad, thereby gaining the moral high ground. Zhang Yinghao pondered for a while, then asked the messenger to notify the military political commissar to attend a meeting, and then he picked up his pen and began to write.

Today was a very happy day for Zhang Yinghao, because she had found a matchmaker and would go to Xueer's house to propose marriage. Zhang Yinghao handed the matter over to her mother and let it go. As for what the matchmaker and Xueer's family discussed in the end, Zhang Yinghao didn't care at all.

As for the bride price, it should be paid. This wasn't the era of the astronomical bride prices of the past. So, although Zhang Yinghao's income wasn't high, he wasn't worried in this age of constant starvation. As long as he had food to eat, he wouldn't be worried about not being able to find a wife. Zhang Yinghao didn't know how to hold a wedding in this era, so he just let his mother officiate.

The final wedding date was ten days later. After Zhang Yinghao knew the time, he reminded his guards to remind him then.

If Zhang Yinghao wasn't attending classes, he'd probably spend a whole day or two sitting in his office, as he had to personally review and process all the documents, and sometimes meet with guests. In reality, he couldn't get much done in a single day. Given the current conditions at the base, Zhang Yinghao struggled to find a secretary. He could only recruit a few more resourceful messengers, who he'd tasked with handling or relaying any requests.

Just as Zhang Yinghao was checking on the recent progress of steel production at the base, a messenger came in to report that the director of the shoe factory had arrived. Zhang Yinghao then remembered that it was he who had proposed building this shoe factory. If Zhang Yinghao were to be asked what he was most uncomfortable with in this era, it would be the lack of electricity, including the lack of cell phones.

The second issue was shoes. It was fine that his family was poor before, but now he was the boss of the base, and it was outrageous that he needed to import a pair of shoes. He didn't know if shoemaking technology had been introduced to China in this era, but Zhang Yinghao was wearing a pair of shoes with thousand-layer soles.

What are "thousand-layer soles"? They're essentially layers of tattered cloth pressed together in some unidentified way, then sewn together with needle and thread. Zhang Yinghao always felt these shoes were insecure, so he spent who knows how much more expensive on a pair of imported shoes.

This is something Zhang Yinghao cannot tolerate at all, but he is also certain of one thing, that is, the Japanese clogs must have been worn by people in China for a long time, because the cost of a piece of wood is much lower than that of leather or kimono soles. It is just that they are uncomfortable and not strong enough to be quickly replaced by rubber-soled shoes.

Zhang Yinghao wondered if the camouflage shoes he'd requested had finally been made after purchasing the rubber. So he immediately invited the factory director in. Zhang Yinghao saw the director arrive, clutching a pair of shoes, followed by two workers-like men carrying a cloth bag, which he knew was also filled with shoes. Zhang Yinghao knew the rubber shoe factory had truly made the shoes.

The technical content of these shoes is not high. The most important issue is the vulcanization of rubber. With more experiments, we can get the optimal experimental data, and then we can start industrial production.

"Chairman, the shoe pattern you drew for us has been manufactured, look.

As he spoke, the director of the shoe factory handed the shoes in his hand to Zhang Yinghao.

Zhang Yinghao took it and examined it carefully. Overall, it was not much different from the Liberation Shoes of later generations. However, the surface of this shoe was still quite rough, not as smooth as those of later generations, and probably not as sturdy as the ones he wore in his previous life. He put one shoe down, picked up the other, folded it in half, and let it go.

“Yeah, pretty flexible.

Zhang Yinghao commented and turned it over to look at the bottom. There was no crease at all after just folding it. In terms of quality, it should have reached the standard of making shoes.

"Have you got the right mix of sulfur and charcoal?

"Chairman, after our experiments, the pair of shoes you have in your hands now has the best proportions.

“So, is it ready for mass production now?

"If there is sufficient supply of rubber, there shouldn't be much of a problem.

"That's something I've been pondering. Should we build a factory in a rubber production area or buy rubber and produce it locally? Overall, each has its pros and cons. However, our resources are limited right now, so we won't risk going to foreign colonies for now. Find your rubber supply sources; there should be plenty of rubber available overseas right now."

"Okay, Mr. Chairman, how much do you charge for these shoes?

Chapter 122:

"Calculate the cost. Although we make shoes to serve the people and won't make a fortune from them, we can't lose money either! Please make a plan as soon as possible based on how much money is needed to purchase machinery, equipment, and raw materials. However, these things cannot be rushed. We need to produce them as soon as possible. Our troops must wear these shoes for training as soon as possible."

"That's no problem. Although rubber is not available in large quantities now, we can still produce it for a while, just enough time to buy the rubber we need.

"As long as you understand, I won't check these shoes anymore. I trust you. Leave them here. I need them right away. You've worked hard. How about we wait until after dinner?"

“No, since the chairman has confirmed that these shoes are feasible, I will go back to work immediately. I won’t delay you here. You are busy.

"Okay, then take care. I'll ask the logistics department to send you a pig later to celebrate your success. I hope you'll keep up the good work.

As he spoke, Zhang Yinghao stood up and saw the factory director out.

"Thank you, Chairman. You don't have to see me off. You are busy. I will go back first.

"it is good.

Zhang Yinghao sat down again, picked up the shoes, and looked at them again. He felt a surge of joy in his heart. These shoes reminded him of his youthful days of training. With these shoes, a 1,000-meter run of three minutes and twenty seconds is a perfect score, right? Haha, it looks like the soldiers are about to embark on another round of training frenzy.