Chapter 35 Ten Years' difference

Beijing-Shanghai Railway, which started to build the railway from Wusong to Jiangning in 1897, and then to the British asked for the right to go. It took eight years, but the railway failed.

In September 4,4602, after the end of the road rights conference, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, as the priority main road, first began construction. The 311-kilometer-long Beijing-Shanghai Railway, unless it was divided into four sections of Shanghai-Suzhou, Suzhou-Changzhou, Changzhou-Zhenjiang and Zhenjiang-Nanjing at the same time according to the plan, in order to speed up the construction period, The four sections are divided into several sections for construction at the same time.

"The Beijing-Shanghai Railway will be built in 120 days!"

As a tribute project to the construction of the empire, in the end, under the encouragement of this slogan, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway has become a miracle in the history of world's railway engineering. When the 311-kilometer Beijing-Shanghai Railway was completed and opened before His Majesty ascended the throne, its miraculous speed, with a construction period of 120 days, shocked the whole world.

In the face of this miraculous speed, some European and American railway experts even said in a slightly sour tone. The railway built by the Chinese in four months may not be qualified in quality, but it means that the Chinese people have made progress in engineering technology.

And railway engineering experts in Europe and the United States even pick up a variety of problems, such as hundreds of steel structure railway bridges along the length, and a large number of unproven welding instead of riveting processes are used. It is simply a compromise to catch up with the construction period, which is an unqualified engineering model.

But the railway engineers who participated in the design and construction obviously do not agree with the views of their peers. In their opinion, the adoption of welding bridges is more of a kind of technological progress, under their strong request. Moreover, after a month of inspection and acceptance by the acceptance expert group of the Ministry of Communications, it is convinced that the railway that has created a miraculous construction speed meets the construction standards, and the steel welded railway bridge is regarded by these European and American experts as the progress of engineering technology. Its life and strong surname are not inferior to the riveting bridge.

Thanks to extensive reports in newspapers, people know that the premise of miraculous construction speed is that there are as many as 40 construction sections and 60 bridges, and two-way construction is carried out at the same time. More than 50,000 construction workers from more than 10 provinces and six engineering regiments work three shifts at night. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, Tianma The first batch of more than 2,000 trucks and special engineering vehicles produced by the automobile company give priority to the Beijing-Shanghai railway construction site.

In addition to the production of Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Company, 10,000 tons of rails and steel components were also purchased from Daye, Hubei Province. Trucks and Jiangnan's convenient waterway network directly transported rails and sleepers to various construction sections to ensure the progress of the project.

Of course, when newspapers report the "Beijing-Shanghai Railway" as the miracle of "the proof of imperial industrial development", few newspapers will mention it. During the construction process, there were multiple construction sections that could not be aligned due to lack of experience, so they were forced to rework for dozens of kilometers.

However, the experience and lessons in the construction of this railway have made the Ministry of Communications and the engineering forces have enough experience to build other trunk railways. China needs to build as many railways as possible in the shortest time in order to establish a national railway transportation network in the short term.

Outside the train window, night has fallen. This is a gloomy, dark and humid night that exudes the unique dampness of spring in the south of the Yangtze River. On the Beijing-Shanghai railway line, the train runs at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour. This speed is the highest speed, speed and carrying capacity of the Asian Railway, and is also the best proof of the construction quality of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.

In the twenty-third luxury sleeper carriage, the lights are on. In the luxuriously decorated carriage, the only passenger is an old man who seems to be old and full of white beards. He doesn't like strong lights, so less than a quarter of the lights are on in the carriage. Over the past few years, as he grew older, he became very responsive, so he ordered people to turn off those lights.

Outside the luxury box of the sleeper carriage, there were several young people standing at both ends of the carriage, and the only passenger in the box was the famous Ito Hirofumi. At this time, he looked melancholy at the bright lights shining beside the station outside the window. On both sides of the railway, there were yellow spots in those factories that were in production or were being built.

When the train enters the station, look at the modern east-style railway stations. Hirofumi Ito can directly feel that China is changing rapidly, just like Pudong, Nanjing and these Chinese-style buildings that integrate Western architectural engineering. China has chosen another road of westernization to learn from the West without abandoning its own civilization. Now, he has shown the power of the October reform.

On the battlefield!

When the train was approaching Suzhou Railway Station, when he was used to looking at the Suzhou Concession, Ito Hirofumi frowned. It was said that the concessions set up in Shanghai, Tianjin, Hankou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yucheng in China were all stationed by the [***] police in the past few days, and the concession was stationed by them. It was abolished. It was the fruit of Ito Hirofumi's victory that forced Li Hongzhang, but what about now? All lost.

"Oh!"

With a long sigh, Hirofumi Ito shook his head, as if to get rid of the burden of the past and dispel those painful thoughts. But there are too many painful thoughts. The most frustrating thing is the danger that the Yalu River Army is about to be destroyed.

Yalu River Army, China is about to annipple the Yalu River Army, which poses the most direct challenge to Japan. And the Yalu River Army is a warning: Please get out of China. Now this place is not yours. This place is blocked, otherwise the Yalu River Army will be your end.

Shanghai disembark, escorted by the receptionist of the Imperial Secret Service, on the way to the railway station by a special bus, Ito Hirofumi saw a million people in Shanghai carrying lanterns to celebrate the victory parade, the Yalu River Army... If the Yalu River Army is completely destroyed, how can he explain these things to the people? Is it possible for them to accept this humiliating truce?

What will the angry people do then?

Perhaps anger will suppress everything. Almost in the first time when China launched an attack on Japan, Britain, France and the United States all said within two days that they would never accept the expansion of the war to China's customs and the Yangtze River. They asked Japan to maintain restraint, which is necessary for Japan.

But now, in Japan, it is understood as "Japan has given up declaring war on China under the pressure of the United Kingdom and the United States!" Because they threatened that if they had declared war on China, they would no longer be able to borrow money to continue the war!"

When he came to China, in the face of the irredeclared war of the Chinese, the angry Japanese people gathered in Tokyo's Hibiya Park to hold a national convention, demanding that the empire immediately declare war on China. In the eyes of the angry citizens, the reason why the empire did not declare war on China is that it was British and American ghosts and beasts. The participants clashed with the police, and the people violently attacked the prime minister's residence near the park. If the police hadn't stopped them in time, the demonstrators might even attack foreign embassies.

"They know that from the beginning, they have fallen into the trap of the Chinese people!"

Thinking of the ignorance of the people, Yi Teng Bowen sighed helplessly. He said that he had to face China with a clear mind, especially the emperor of China. This was the answer to Ito Hirofumi after studying the emperor after the outbreak of the war.

Indecent seizure of Dalian, the port of Dalian tempted the Japanese to give up the Qing Dynasty, thus opening up the diplomatic dilemma of Nanjing. The tariff incident, in the name of cooperating with the Japanese army, tempted the Japanese to agree to the levy of additional taxes, thus breaking the unity of the great powers, and finally quickly abandoned the Japanese version, and the Japanese version that gave him too much help became the target of public criticism.

"Now it seems that the so-called Chinese saying is just empty words. Since the restoration of China, the action they have taken has undoubtedly been carried out according to someone's pre-specified goal."

With a sigh, Hirofumi Ito leaned back on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes... Now, he is in a dilemma. On the one hand, from the domestic reality, it is impossible to declare war on China. Without money, it is impossible to carry out the war; on the other hand, from the reality of the Manchurian battlefield, The Chinese are making every effort to attack the Yalu River Army. Although there is no more news, it seems that it is only a matter of time before the [***] team annithrew the Yalu River Army.

And now?

The emperor and Katsura Taro left the mess to him alone, so where should he go?

Right here, on the way to Nanjing, Ito Hirofumi couldn't help but think of a person, Li Hongzhang, who died four years ago!

Now, Ito Hirofumi finally understands the bitterness and helplessness in Li Hongzhang's heart at the beginning.

Thinking of Li Hongzhang, who had already died, recalled his aggressiveness towards him in Maguan, and Ito Hirofumi, who opened his eyes, sighed heavily.

"Li Xiang, this is really ten years of Hedong and ten years of Hexi!"

Thinking that after the successful of this conspiracy, Hirofumi Ito knew that the future China would become Japan's biggest potential enemy in ten years.

Suddenly, there was a thumping sound of leather shoes in the corridor of the carriage. This was the receptionist sent by the Chinese side. A few seconds later, someone gently knocked on the door of the car.

Beside Fujimura stood a staff member of the Imperial Secret Service. His movements were polite, but his expression was a little cold.

"Sir, the train will enter Nanjing Station in half an hour. According to the arrangement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you will leave directly from platform 6 half an hour after the train enters the station!"

When he spoke, there was no expression on his cold face. From his eyes, Hirofumi Ito could see that this person did not care about his identity. Perhaps for him, he was just one of his tasks.

Looking at the man who left again, Fujimura spoke first.

"Sir, do you think that all the people in [***] are like him?"

Fujimura, a soldier, saw that the man was a soldier, at least once a soldier.

"Like him?"

Hirofumi Ito meditated in his heart, and then looked out of the window. It was a dark night outside the car. This night was occasionally cut by a lonely light somewhere.

In the face of this situation, Hirofumi Ito feels infinitely depressed... If they were all like him, it might not be possible to win this war at all!

(to be continued)