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Text Chapter 173 Railway

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    From Duyun to the south, the terrain becomes more rugged, which also seriously increases the difficulty of railway construction.  The construction of this less than 100-kilometer railway from Duyun to Mawei in southern Guizhou took several months in the first half of this year.  The materials and funds required are far more than those in plain areas.

    Now, fortunately, this section of the railway has been built long ago. Otherwise, it would take several more months to build the railway to Yongning.  Now, this railway is very busy, and all the trains running are transporting various materials for the previous railway construction, such as rails, sleepers, cement, and food consumed by tens of thousands of people every day.

    When Wang Yuze arrived at Mawei, it was almost dark.  This remote mountain village has now become the command center for the construction of the Guiyang-Yongning Railway.  Because Wang Yuze attaches great importance to this railway, Minister of Transportation Zhan Tianyou even personally took charge of it to ensure that the railway can run smoothly before the fleet returns to China next summer.  Once the navy is established and the port is built, it will become the sea channel in western Sichuan.  Therefore, in a sense, this railway will become the lifeline of western Sichuan and is very important.

    The Guiyang Railway Command Zhongxing is just a row of more than ten bungalows, surrounded by more thatched houses built randomly with wood.  Of course, there are also worse houses where prisoners of war captured by the Western Sichuan Army in last year's and this year's wars live.  During the border conflict on the plateau, more than 20,000 Indian Asans were captured, and all of them were sent to the construction team of the Guiyang Railway. Some of them were prisoners of war captured in last year's war.  Among the tens of thousands of construction workers, less than two thousand were actually hired.  Of course, they were all people who knew a little bit about technology. The hard work was done by the prisoners of war, so it was much easier for them.

    The arrival of Wang Yuze and the others attracted the attention of the guards.  Because there were a large number of prisoners of war here, the Eighth Division stationed in Guiyang specially deployed two regiments of troops to protect the construction of the railway on the one hand, and to guard the prisoners of war on the other.  This was to prevent prisoners of war from escaping or rioting, which would affect the progress of railway construction.  It's not like this has never happened.  A few years ago, some prisoners of war working in the mines rioted. They used mining guns to blow up the mines, snatched the guns of the mine guards, and killed many people.  Although the garrison later arrived and suppressed all the rioting prisoners of war, this also caused considerable damage to western Sichuan.  This incident gave Western Sichuan a serious warning. For this reason, Western Sichuan increased the security of various mines. At the same time, when a large number of prisoners of war needed to be used, troops were often dispatched for protection to avoid a similar situation from happening again.

    "Who are you? This is a military restricted area, no trespassing!" Wang Yuze and the others were warned by the guarding soldiers before they got close.

    "We are from Chengdu, the Marshal's Mansion!" Wang Wei said quickly.  "This is our ID!"

    A guard came over and checked the ID. It clearly said "Guard Guards Patrolling the Ambassador's Mansion, Marshal's Adjutant, Major!"  Suddenly, the guard was stunned.  The major's adjutant appears here. Doesn't this mean that the young man next to him is the young marshal?

    "Wu Dahai, a soldier of the Second Regiment of the Eighth Division, has met the commander. Hello, young marshal!" The guard quickly saluted Wang Wei and then said hello to Wang Yuze.

    When other guards saw this situation, they also reacted and greeted Wang Yuze one after another.  Through last year's long-distance attack on the capital and this year's border conflict, he has established his prestige in the army, and many soldiers regard him as an object of worship.

    "Hello everyone! Thank you so much!" Wang Yuze greeted everyone with a smile before entering the command center.

    The movement here has attracted the attention inside.  After learning that the young marshal was coming, Zhan Tianyou personally greeted him.

    "Young Marshal, why are you here?" Zhan Tianyou was a straight man. As soon as he saw Wang Yuze, he raised his question.

    "I came here to take a look, firstly to see if you have any difficulties, and secondly to see the situation at the military port!" Wang Yuze said with a smile.

    ¡°Young Marshal, let¡¯s talk after we enter the room!¡± Zhan Tianyou invited Wang Yuze into the command center.

    Zhan Tianyou¡¯s office is just a small room of less than 20 square meters. Apart from a desk, a filing cabinet and a few chairs, there is no other furniture, making it very simple.  In addition, there is a folded camp bed in the corner.  Obviously, in addition to being Zhan Tianyou's office, this is also his dormitory.

    "Minister Zhan, the conditions are quite difficult! Please try to overcome them!" Wang Yuze said.

    "It's okay, Marshal. I'm still young and can survive it completely. As long as more railways in western Sichuan can be built and people's lives can get better and better, I'll be satisfied!" Zhan Tianyou smiled.? said.  Zhan Tianyou, who was born in 1861, was only 31 years old at this time.  Among the various cabinet ministries in Western Sichuan, he is considered the youngest minister.  It's just that he doesn't value power and the like, and only focuses on railway construction.

    "The people will remember your contribution. Minister Zhan, are there any difficulties on the Guiyang-Yong Railway that I need to solve?" Wang Yuze said.  He attaches great importance to this railway and must ensure that it is completed and opened to traffic in the middle of next year.

    "Young Marshal, the difficulties are great, but we can overcome them. The main sections of the Guiyang Railway belong to karst landforms. It is very difficult and expensive to build. In many places, large engineering equipment cannot be used at all.  , we have to use manpower. Simply because there are more prisoners of war, there are more manpower. We will try our best to ensure the opening time. There are two main difficulties now. First, the consumption of prisoners of war is relatively large, which is only half  Within a few months, thousands of Indian prisoners of war have died. I am afraid that if this railway is opened to traffic, all those Indian prisoners of war will die," Zhan Tianyou said.

    "It doesn't matter! People who are not from my tribe must have different thoughts! You can use these Indian Asans. The British don't regard them as human beings at all, and we naturally don't care about them. Whatever is the most painful, tiring and threatening job, we can do it  Let them do it!" Wang Yuze said nonchalantly.  The reputation ability of Indians is very terrifying. In later generations, it has almost surpassed China.  Even now, India as a whole has almost 400 million people, not much less than China.  More than 20,000 Indian Asans are not an important matter at all.

    Zhan Tianyou nodded, he didn¡¯t feel unbearable or anything.  Having studied in the United States, he naturally knew the tragedy of the Chinese workers when they were building the American Pacific Railway.

    "Young Marshal, we can use these Indians in any way we want. But we don't need to be so cruel to the other Han prisoners of war. In the end, they are still our compatriots. But after Western Sichuan unifies the whole country, there will still be a large number of railways  To build these requires a lot of manpower!" Zhan Tianyou said worriedly.  With the current level of technology, building railways is a job with high casualties.  If you die as a foreigner, you won't feel anything.  But if you are one of your own compatriots, you would be a little bit intolerable.

    "During construction, try to protect everyone's safety! In addition, I will provide you with enough labor through other methods. There are more monkeys in Southeast Asia and Assanges in India. It is imperative that we  Just spend money and buy some!" Wang Yuze said.

    "Monkey?" Zhan Tianyou was stunned for a moment, and then he figured out that this was Wang Yuze's name for those people in Southeast Asia.

    "Okay, Marshal, in this case, the first problem is solved. The second problem, judging from the current layout of Western Sichuan, Guangxi will become the sea channel in Western Sichuan. However, the capacity of this railway is limited, even if  After the railway is completed, I am afraid that it will not be able to bear the annual foreign trade volume of western Sichuan." Zhan Tianyou said.

    Wang Yuze hesitated for a moment, and then said: "While building the railway, highway construction cannot be relaxed. In addition, after the railway is completed, a second line will be built, which will more than double the transportation capacity. In addition to the Yangtze River waterway, it should  It¡¯s enough for now. After we overthrow the Manchus, there will be more outlets to the sea, and we won¡¯t have this problem anymore!¡±

    "Well! Marshal, I'm relieved then!" Zhan Tianyou said with a smile.

    Wang Yuze felt quite uncomfortable when he saw Zhan Tianyou's sincere smile and his face that looked old due to overwork.  However, he has no choice. Who said China is too backward now?  And railways are the main arteries of a country.  Throughout China, more than 100,000 kilometers of railways need to be built.  The current railways in western Sichuan, even including those under construction, are only more than 10,000 kilometers, which is still too far behind.  Even here, the government needs to invest a lot of money.

    Wang Yuze spent three days at the Guiyang Railway Center to inspect the construction of the railway.  I have to say that it is really difficult to build the Guiyang Railway. It is common to open mountains and build bridges.  Due to road conditions, the erection of rails often requires manual lifting.  A section of rail weighed almost a ton, and it took dozens of prisoners of war to lift it. In addition, the road was rugged, and various accidents often occurred.  Almost every day, prisoners of war died.

    Wang Yuze took this very lightly.  Just because he kept in mind the words "Those who are not of my race must have different minds", if these Indian Asan's corpses can be exchanged for the construction of Chinese railways, there seems to be nothing wrong.

    With the efforts of the Ministry of Transport, despite the difficulties, the Guiyang Railway is still under rapid construction.  It is expected to be repaired to Yongning in February next year.  It is relatively easy to get from Yongning to Beihai, Fangchenggang and Zhanjiang.  In the middle of next year, the sea channel in western Sichuan will be officially opened.

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