Chapter 129 The biggest event

Once again, the world's eyes were on Yanjing. The last time was in 1900, because Yanjing, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, was attacked by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and the Eight Nations occupied Yanjing. Therefore, the press paid attention to the divided capital and the future of the largest empire in Asia.

And this time, the reason why they pay attention to this place is only because there will be a historical "greatest adventure" in the capital. In the writing of those journalists, this is almost no less than Columbus's expedition. Magellan's world is "the greatest car adventure in history in 1902 Yanjing" for the world. To Paris! Perhaps this will be the last great adventure of mankind in the 20th century except for Antarctica!"

The media praised the challenge with exaggerated words, and the Paris Automobile Federation, as the organizer, is extremely serious about this challenge. They hope to establish the technical advantages of cars relative to carriages through this trip and carry forward the adventurous spirit of this era. But this does not prevent the media from constantly adding fuel to the flames, with amazing bonuses, poor traffic conditions, harsh natural environment, and unknown risks on the journey. In short, when they praised this feat with extremely exaggerated words and provoked people's enthusiasm for the game, it had an unexpected effect. .

563 cars and 1,156 drivers have been transported from the United States and Europe. After the assembly in Tianjin, after the negotiations between the envoys of Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Russia and the Qing Zheng Axe, the restricted vehicles were increased to 600. After 1,200 drivers and 578 cars were in front of the capital. The headmaster gathered, and people were waiting for the last day.

"All participating cars are limited to models sold in the market! This competition is to determine the technical advantages of cars to horse-drawn carriages, not through special models, not to serve the public!"

People's hands are short and people's mouths are short. Although the Paris Automobile Federation strives hard, in the end, the "mass-produced models that have been sold in the market" has still become a restriction clause for the competition. The participating models can only carry out simple off-road surname modification, and the hasty time does not give those race drivers enough time to prepare.

Facing the approach of the departure, people's ambition and courage are also in the test run between Yanjing and Tianjin. Facing the road environment full of puddles and bottomless pits, nearly a hundred cars broke down halfway, and the ambitious contestants began to retreat. Finally, at the departure ceremony held in Yanjing on August 10, 1902, only 772 brave drivers and 385 cars were left.

As soon as the sun climbed up the diamond-like clear sky, people already felt the heat lurking in the day that was about to be released. In about an hour, the weather will be as hot as fire.

Decades ago, it was destroyed in the campus of the Eight Banners of the Anglo-French Alliance. The national flags of various countries fluttered, and the outside of the campus were full of spectators. On the wooden platform in the campus, the envoys and wives of various countries, the officers and wives of the troops stationed in Beijing and Tianjin, decent foreigners and officials of the imperial court all sat there. Looking at the cars lined up and going in the school yard with different looks. Of course, more minister, officers and their ladies are voting their country's convotives in the school.

This may be the largest event in the automobile industry in history. Since the invention of the car, there has never been so many cars concentrated. The magnesium fireworks of the camera are constantly flashing in this school field. Reporters from Europe and the United States even use movie cameras to record it. Record the largest car event in the school.

In the crowded school yard, there is a row of 16 black cars, which are also crowded with guests from all over the world. When the ladies in the crowd walk to the car and look at the simple car, they often smile strangely. The whole body is black, the big wheels, the chassis is high from the ground, there is no odometer in the car, no fuel display meter, and even no windshield. This car is too simple.

However, the chrome-plated Pegasus logo on the front of the car, which glitters in the sun, can attract people's attention. If it is on the highway, you can see the chrome-plated front hundreds of meters away. The thin rod grille makes the running horse "float" on the chrome-plated rectangular frame. Compared with simple cars, these foreigners obviously prefer this sign.

"Captain Liu, what are these foreign ghosts talking about? I'm afraid it's not a good word!"

Ouyang Tian, who was checking the engine, listened to the jingle of foreign words and asked Liu Zhongxia, who was staying in the shade while sipping tea. He was the captain of the team. I heard that this car rally was what he meant. It took him a whole hour to check the Mustang. When checking the car, it did not prevent him from talking to the captain.

"Don't listen to them, just fart what they say! Focus on checking your car! Wait for the road..."

Liu Zhongxia said rudely, but with a smile on his face. In the test race, he carefully ordered the whole team to maintain the middle level. Anyway, it was just a test drive, and there was no need to show off.

The reason why Ouyang Tian is so good is that he is a little nervous. Although the Mustang even specially modified some designs for this pull and made improvements on the basis of mass production, Liu Zhongxia still dares not be careless and must be cautious. The Mustang must be foolproof. No matter how strong the horses driven by foreigners are, he believes that they are not as good as Mustangs, but who knows?

The car rally is the best opportunity for car manufacturers to show their products. Through the competition, it helps manufacturers to further improve the production process of car structures, engines, chassis, brakes, tires, lighting equipment and other components. For Mustangs, they need to rely on this competition to open themselves in Europe. The reputation of.

"If you say it ten thousand times, it's better to win an unprecedented car rally!"

Liu Zhongxia remembers that she talked to the chairman after a successful test drive, and the car rally is finally about to start today.

According to the route arrangement, go out of Yanjing to the south, pass through Baoding, cross the Yellow River into Henan, pass through Tongguan, enter Shaanxi, pass through Gansu into Xinjiang Province, then the grassland governoral area, cross the Russian Empire and Germany, and then arrive in Paris. In the coming decades, there will be a variety of primitive roads on this road. The road conditions are unknown and the geographical span is large. It is not only necessary to challenge the harsh natural environment. Even if you close your eyes, you can imagine that this will be a challenging ultra-long journey. Many areas passed on the way are still in primitive topography and easy to get lost.

"Fortunately, the telegraph poles along the way can be used to identify the direction!"

Repeatedly thinking about the route in his mind, Liu Zhongxia couldn't help but be lucky with the long-distance telegraph line from Yanjing to Moscow along the way, and the telegraph station at every other section along the way was the best resting place for the team.

"It's like a wild horse!"

The French spit out of the lady who stood in front of the car and stared at the front sign of the car entered Liu Zhongxia's ears. He couldn't help but be happy and took the lady's words.

"Madam, as you said, every part of this Mustang is carefully designed to adapt to the mountain roads and dirt roads that extend around the world! It can pass through the rocky and muddy road like stepping on stilts.

In the lady's surprise, Liu Zhongxia said in French with a Parisian accent.

"Although it will be as bumpy as other cars, it is because only wild horses have skeletal muscles without fat. But as long as it goes on the road, it will show its magical power, and no danger can stop it!"

Liu Zhongxia, who jumped out of the car, stood in front of the blonde lady with an umbrella, made a gentleman's salute and continued.

"Although the Mustang car has some surnames unique to the Mustang, it also has the bravery of a hound and the endurance of a camel."

Liu Zhongxia suddenly blinked again with a smile on her face.

"Madam, if you are interested, I can assure you that buying the Mustang team to win this race will definitely win you a great reward! You know, it's a 1:45 odds now. If you go to the prairie governor's area, maybe the odds will drop to 1:2, or even lower!"

The middle-aged lady with a flower umbrella was surprised that her beautiful eyes were looking at the Chinese who spoke fluent French. She suddenly laughed, but her smile was warm and natural, and there was no contempt at all.

"Sir, are you so confident?"

And the Frenchman beside the lady also looked at this confident Chinese with curiosity.

"Of course, we will definitely win. Just yesterday, I had someone buy 2,000 taels in the Tianjin Concession! There is no doubt that my team will win this race!"

Liu Zhongxia patted her chest and said confidently that this car race not only caused a sensation in Europe, but also in China. The gambling stalls opened by foreigners in the Tianjin Concession had the highest odds of the "Marco Team" from Shanghai. No one believed that Chinese-made cars could win the race.

"Mr., you know, that gentleman also participated in this competition!"

Under an Italian flag not far away, Bi Sheng's hand is enjoying reporters' questions about the roses and handkerchiefs of the women.

"Spion? Prince Burgess, right?

Looking in the direction of his finger, Liu Zhongxia smiled and then shrugged again.

"There has never been a difference between a prince and a civilian in sports events, and it's the same in this game!"

Spion? Prince Burgess is an Italian driver. He brought the best Spyker, and with the best mechanic, almost everyone believes that he is the final winner, and the Italian Embassy in China attaches great importance to the arrival of the prince, and deliberately decides to send an armed guard composed of ten cavalry to escort him to Baoding.

Will he win? Liu Zhongxia really doesn't believe that he can win. In the test race from Tianjin to Yanjing, he personally observed his Shijue car. Although it has been deliberately modified off-road, it can even be disassembled into pieces at any time. Once he climbs a mountain, crosses a river and crosses the desert, he can be carried by manpower, but his cross-country surname can't be in the same field. Compared with horses.

"It seems that your team performed very well in the test race!"

Bi Shengyi said that as the French minister to China, he pushed the game with one effort. At first, the Qingzheng axe did not approve the route through the hinterland of China, but at the request of the Paris Automobile Federation, he and the minister of the six countries made a "formal request" to the Qingzheng axe, asking the Qingzheng axe to accept this Route, as the promoter of this game, he has naturally been paying attention to this game on an unprecedented scale, especially after he himself won praise in France for his help in this game.

"Sir, the wild horse is a real wild horse. It looks inconspicuous, but when it goes to the wild, it will show the true nature of a wild horse!"

Liu Zhongxia pointed to Bi Sheng with the same meaning and said that he "Let people three points" on the domestic line, keep a low profile and wait for them to go abroad, and then desperately get rid of them. This is the chairman's suggestion, on the grounds that he is afraid that those "nervous ** almost abnormal Manqing officials" will be timid by the outstanding performance of the Mustang team. Then they were asked to lose.

"At the grassland governorate, on the prairie, just throw them away. The 55-horsepower gasoline engine is enough to make the wild horse eat ashes behind its buttocks!"

Although the chairman's words are a little rough, it is indeed true. Among those cars participating in the competition, except for the Mustang, the most powerful one is the Spyker car driven by Prince Burgess, but it is only 40 horsepower. As for the others, most of them are more than ten to twenty horsepower, and the smallest is only six horsepower.

In the past ten days, with the help of communication, Liu Zhongxia has deliberately "examined" his opponents. Except for Prince Burgess's car, other cars could not pose a threat to the Mustang.

"I hope so!"

Hearing the meaning of Liu Zhongxia's words, Bi Sheng's brown eyes lit up.

"If you can win this race, then I will definitely buy a Mustang!"

"Then you have to prepare the money first, because..."

After only half of the words, Liu Zhongxia swallowed the words back. He saw several people coming towards the convoy. The first was a slightly fat man in a first-class official robe - it was Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang. What's wrong with him!

In a few steps, Yuan Shikai was slightly shocked when he saw the foreigner who turned around. It was the French minister Bi Sheng!

"Convoy Bi!"

"Lord Yuan!"

Bi Sheng greeted him with a smile, but Liu Zhongxia almost bit off his tongue. This Frenchman is the French minister Bi Sheng!

"I don't know why Lord Yuan has time to come to this school!"

"Mr. Bi can come to cheer for the drivers of your country, and Yuan will naturally come here to cheer for the drivers of our Qing Dynasty!"

Yuan Shikai said so, but he took two steps forward, but his face with official prestige squeezed out a smile when he saw Liu Zhongxia.

"Liu Zhongxia! Liu Mingxi!"

"I've seen it! Yuan...Lord Yuan!"

Seeing Lord Yuan shouting his name, Liu Zhongxia hurriedly knelt down to salute, but was held by Yuan Shikai.

"There is no need for more courtesy. You drivers are the biggest in this school today. I am very happy that the drivers of our Qing Dynasty can participate in this competition. Your chairman is a person who does business and does great things!"

After exempting Liu Zhongxia's ceremony, Yuan Shikai still said with a smile on his face, not taking Bi Sheng next to him, or directly ignoring the French minister.

"This is the Mustang!"

While walking to the car to speak, Yuan Shikai also slapped the body of the car hard, making the steel plate of the car bang.

"I have ordered someone to buy ten of them from your Mustang car factory. Although this doesn't look good, I think about it. Maybe it's a fancy! Do you think it's the envoy of Bi?"

Yuan Shikai asked with his usual laughter.

"Ah, yes! Yes!"

Looking directly at Yuan Shikai's fat face, Bi Sheng nodded helplessly and smiled.

The new governor of Zhili is more slippery than Li Hongzhang. Looking at his appearance, Bi Sheng knew that this person just wanted to save some face with this Chinese-style arrogance, just like the Chinese-style arrogance he showed in the delivery of the Tianjin regime.

And Yuan Shikai's come to the front of the team made Liu Zhongxia's nervous look disappear. At this time, Yuan Shikai turned around and patted Liu Zhongxia on the shoulder.

"Mingxi, I'm here to send all the warriors of the Qing Dynasty to Europe!"

During the words, Yuan Shi Kate aggravated the last few words.

"You not only have to fight for face for Mustang, but also for the Qing Dynasty! I, I can point to you to lose our Qing Dynasty and earn some face back!"

"Yes! My lord!"

Liu Zhongxia quickly bowed his head and hugged his fist and said, didn't he dare to say it? What's more, he was so moved that he almost squeezed out tears.

Yuan Shikai was very satisfied with the grateful appearance of the captain of the team. He patted the body again and looked at the four large oil barrels hanging behind the car and the things on the car.

"Mingxi, this car looks like it can hold things!"

"Your Excellency, the Mustang is like a heavy-bearing Mustang, and the factory can carry 12.5 responsibilities with people and goods!"

Listening to his words, Yuan Shikai walked around the car with great interest, but several escort officers next to him couldn't help but light up at the same time when they heard the 12.5 public burden. The car was about to catch up with the ocean carriage.

He patted the steel body with his hand. Yuan Shikai nodded with satisfaction, and then looked back at Liu Zhongxia, who was following him.

"Mingxi, I have ordered someone to send a telegram to your chairman. If you can win this game, I will order 600 of your Mustangs in the name of the Governor of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang!"

"Ah!"

Liu Zhongxia obviously didn't expect that Lord Yuan would be so generous, 600 vehicles!

At this time, a bell rang on the school platform, which made the non-racers in the field and the spectators outside the reporters leave the field. Listening to the bell, Yuan Shikai just smiled and said.

"Do it well and earn back the face we lost!" Then he walked directly to the stands.

More than ten minutes later, Prince Burgess's Spyker, who was in the leading position, was the first to leave the Eight Banners school grounds with cheers, and the drivers waiting for these drivers will be 10,000 miles and countless challenges.

When the Mustang convoy flying the flag of the Qing Dynasty drove out of the campus, the cheers outside the campus were louder, and there were cheers everywhere. This was the cheers of the onlookers of the Chinese people. In the crowd, they watched the team leave the team alone, and then looked at the Beiyang minister in the stands, frowning slightly.

(to be continued)