radicalducati Page 155
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I also believe that cars should serve the entire nation and all social strata. Our company is currently investing heavily in a joint research and development effort with Germans to create a semi-automated assembly line.
"The initial idea is to integrate various processing equipment and processes, and combine different lathes and equipment into one line to form a complete manufacturing production line from start to finish."
"If we succeed, Tongda Power's production capacity will experience explosive growth in the future, and production costs will be significantly reduced!"
After listening, Liu Ting immediately understood. In his opinion, this approach was quite amazing. If it was possible to integrate all the separate manufacturing processes and procedures and transform them from scattered individuals into an orderly whole, it would be a very feasible and effective approach.
"This is a great idea. I strongly support your innovative breakthroughs. You can contact me if necessary. The Technical Equipment Bureau has policies to support and encourage any technological innovations and breakthroughs."
I can help you with that, as long as you can provide affordable vehicles in large quantities in the future.
The two men got more and more into their conversation at the dinner table, and Liu Ting continued to inquire about the production of heavy tracked vehicles by Tongda Power Company.
Chen Jiaxie answered truthfully that the company had previously introduced American technology patents to produce some heavy tracked vehicles, mainly for agricultural machinery, but they could not compete with the factories in the north. The agricultural machinery procurement market is mainly concentrated in the north, especially the Northeast region.
Farmland in the south is too fragmented to afford this kind of agricultural machinery.
Liu Ting was very interested in Tongda Power's heavy-duty tracked vehicles and kept asking about their production capacity and potential for modification.
At the request of the central government, the Ministry of National Defense has begun to investigate and research the benefits of heavy tracked vehicles for the military, and plans for related tracked transport vehicles and heavy tracked armored chassis have been put on the agenda.
Currently, due to military spending constraints, production plans and preliminary research are limited, making large-scale procurement unlikely.
However, whoever can conduct research and development and build up technological reserves in advance will be able to receive the fastest and largest number of orders when the military has future needs.
The reality is that manufacturers aren't very interested in the needs of the poor army; they're only interested in the navy, which is willing to spend a lot of money. In the vehicle sector, everyone is eyeing the most profitable civilian market.
The military is reluctant to invest heavily in the development of heavy tracked vehicles and chassis, so it's unlikely that manufacturers will have to invest their own money.
Now that Liu Tingshui has brought this up, it's also a test for Chen Jiaxie. We're family, I can help you, but you have to help me too.
Investing money now in the research and development of tracked heavy vehicles with unstable demand and unreliable profits is a test for Chen Jiaxie. If he is willing to help, he can win the friendship of Liu Ting and even the entire army. If he is not willing to help, then the relationship between them will remain at the level of relatives.
Whether it was the alcohol taking effect or genuine courage, Chen Jiaxie agreed to Liu Ting's request without hesitation.
Developing military vehicles, including heavy tracked armored vehicles, does cost money, but as long as the military is interested, they are willing to invest it.
His nephew-in-law was the director of the Joint Logistics Department. With his word, Chen Jiaxie was not worried at all that Liu Ting would cheat him. Even if he was cheated, it would only amount to a few hundred thousand yuan in research and development funds. In return, the military would owe him a favor, which was something that money could not buy at a critical moment!
Chapter 255 Western Gold Rushers
October 7, 1911, Zhangye.
The gaze shifts from the prosperous interior to the desolate and vast west. At this moment, in the golden autumn season, on the Hexi Corridor, groups of prisoners from reformatory camps are struggling to carry the railway tracks, walking on their path of atonement.
The Longhai Railway, constructed in sections, was divided into three major sections under the planning and supervision of Zhan Tianyou. The first section ran from Lianyungang to Zhengzhou in Henan Province, the second section ran from Zhengzhou to Xi'an, and the third section, which was the most arduous and longest, ran from Xi'an through Lanzhou into the Hexi Corridor and finally to Dihua.
The first section of the railway line through the Central Plains has now been completed. Building railways in the Central Plains is incredibly convenient, given the dense population, ample funding, and the availability of equipment and materials right at our doorstep.
The second section of the railway is also expected to be completed by the middle of next year, with only the final section from Xi'an to Dihua proving extremely difficult to construct.
Fortunately, the national highway connecting Xi'an and Dihua has now been completed, allowing equipment and construction materials to be easily transported to the construction site without the need for manual labor and animal transport as in the past.
The living conditions of prisoners in the reform camps have improved, which has led to a significant decrease in the mortality rate.
More than 700,000 prisoners in reformatories worked diligently to build this railway. No one dared to escape, and no one dared to slack off. They all gave their all.
Because the central government has promised them that once the road is completed, they can be granted amnesty in Xinjiang and settle down in the western region as legal free citizens.
To be honest, many officials in the central government are reluctant to see such a large free labor force disappear. If they were to recruit hundreds of thousands of free people to do this kind of work, they don't know how much extra budget would be needed.
But there's no way to fleece this group of unfortunate people relentlessly, otherwise they'll rebel sooner or later. Suppression is easy, but you can't just kill hundreds of thousands of people all at once, can you? Doing so would cause a major upheaval both domestically and internationally, and the Republic's reputation for human rights and freedom would be shattered instantly.
In recent years, with the gradual stabilization and prosperity of the Republic, the national political atmosphere and the mainstream social will have become much more relaxed.
The Republic gradually transitioned from a tense militaristic state to a peaceful and relaxed republican state, and everything was on the right track in a prosperous development. It became somewhat inappropriate to continue to maintain such a large group of political prisoners.
After undergoing the most severe punishments and the most brutal elimination rounds, this group of people had become incredibly docile and obedient. Becoming legal free citizens was the treatment they dreamed of, and they dared not even think about anything more.
Today is another sunny autumn day. The cool breeze blowing from the northern grasslands tells everyone that the weather is about to turn cooler.
The prisoners in the reformatory reclamation team are diligently harvesting wheat, their backs bent low. The amount of wheat they harvest now will determine how much food they can eat this winter.
In the distance, the Qilian Mountains rise majestically, their white snow-capped peaks blending seamlessly with the white clouds in the sky. On the winding national highway, groups of gold prospectors on horseback, carrying guns, are making the most of the last moments before winter sets in and heading west.
"Kewu, take a break, my back is about to break!" Ruiying, a member of the reclamation team, stood up and wiped her sweat with a sickle in hand, but she dared not wipe too hard, for fear that the wheat awns would pierce her flesh.
When Ke Wu was called, he straightened up, picked up the leather water bag at his waist, took a big gulp of the smelly cold water, and then looked enviously at the gold prospectors riding by on horseback on the highway.
"When will we men be able to become free? If that day ever comes, I'm going to get a horse, a fast gun, and go explore the Altai Mountains!"
Who knows, maybe we'll find a huge gold mine, and then your Fifth Uncle will be able to stand tall again!
Ruiying said with a look of disgust, "Come on, you still want to stand up for yourself? Do you think it's still like before? It's good enough that I'm still alive. I'm not planning to cause any more trouble. After the railway is finished and we get to Xinjiang, I'll settle down and grow cotton on a few hundred acres of land!"
Ke Wu said indignantly, "Can't you have some ambition? Back in the day, the two of us brothers lived a very comfortable life in Beijing. We could eat a whole Peking duck feast at Quanjude without batting an eye, costing more than ten taels of silver per meal."
Ruiying stretched out her hand and said, "Speak, keep speaking, speak louder, it would be best if the guards could hear you too, see if they would torture you to death?"
"That happened so many years ago, why are you still thinking about it now? What's past is past. Living well from now on is more important than anything else. How many people died on the front lines in Northeast China? How many bones are buried in the Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang River?"
"Of those guys who were arrested together in Beijing back then, how many are still alive today? The Empress Dowager's body has been left to rot in the wilderness, and the Emperor was skinned alive. You, a descendant of countless generations of collateral princes, do you think you can turn the world upside down?"
After hearing this, Ke Wu was immediately dejected. Yes, when he came to his senses, he realized that the ordeal he had endured had transformed him from a rich young man into a dark-skinned and emaciated prisoner in a reformatory. Of the Manchus from Beijing who were arrested together back then, less than ten out of a hundred were still alive today.
There were once at least six or seven million Manchu bannermen who lived and died alongside the nation. Now, only six or seven hundred thousand remain. The head of state's punishment has instilled fear and dread in every Manchu bannerman. The majesty of the Republic has made every Manchu bannerman afraid to have any further thoughts.
"Sigh, just live!"
Ke Wu sighed, bent down, and continued harvesting wheat.
On the distant highway, the caravans of gold prospectors and westward immigrants continued their westward journey.
After news broke of abundant gold deposits in the Western Regions, migrants from within the Great Wall had another option: venturing into the Northwest, following the migration to the Northeast.
In short, good citizens ventured to Northeast China, while madmen went to the Northwest!
The migrants who ventured to Northeast China were mainly farmers who hoped to get rich through hard work and create their own homes with their own hands. In contrast, the migrants who went to Northwest China were mainly gold prospectors, mostly restless and ambitious individuals.
These people all dream of getting rich overnight, finding a gold mine, becoming extremely wealthy, and finally returning home in glory with a huge fortune.
Such people have appeared before. You don't even need to discover any gold mines. Just go to the other side of the Altai Mountains, find a river, and you can start panning for gold. You can easily pan for two or three ounces of gold dust in a month.
Many early gold prospectors simply bought up the mining area, hired people to mine it, and could easily make several hundred kilograms a year. After paying taxes, they were definitely millionaires.
After these people get rich, they all go back to their hometowns to show off, which then inspires wave after wave of people to flock to the Northwest in search of wealth.
Since Wang Dingyun took charge of the Northwest last year, he has been using the dream of gold mining to lure immigrants from within the Great Wall, while the central government has also been increasing its efforts to develop the Northwest through immigration.
Over the past year, more than 810,000 new immigrants have settled in Northwest China, bringing Xinjiang Province's population back to over 1.1 million, which is considered a breakthrough of one million.
Otherwise, it would be too outrageous for Xinjiang, a province with a population of less than one million. Not to mention the Xinjiang provincial government, even the central government would feel ashamed.
Next year, Xinjiang Province will see another wave of population growth, because its reputation has already been established this year. Xinjiang does indeed have gold, and coming here to pan for gold does offer the chance to get rich overnight.
Those unstable elements within the Great Wall, especially the bandits who had been suppressed and recruited, heard the news of gold in the Northwest and saw people returning home rich overnight. They could no longer resist and set off in groups to seek their fortune in Xinjiang.
Ordinary people also learned from various news reports about the vastness and richness of Xinjiang. They learned that in Xinjiang, you could buy a hectare of land for ten yuan, and that the country had implemented preferential tax policies for Xinjiang, so whether you were growing grain, cotton, or sugar beets, you could make a fortune.
Large numbers of ordinary people also flocked to the Northwest, driving cattle and horses and carrying all their wealth to realize their dream of becoming landlords, since it was impossible to become a landlord in the interior of China anyway.
The areas inside and outside the pass are like two different worlds. Outside the pass, there is almost no progressive tax on fixed assets, and the government even encourages individuals to own large areas of land or pastures for intensive and efficient farming and grazing.
Inside the Great Wall, the government spared no effort in cracking down on landlords. Whoever owned the most land was targeted by the government. Unless you used the land for industrial development or sold it to invest in industry, the ruthless tax officials would never let you off the hook.
As evening approached, the prisoners in the reformatory reclamation team also finished their shift and returned to the camp to rest.
The reform camp now has a well-defined division of labor. The reclamation team is responsible for farming, clearing land and planting crops wherever they go. All the harvested crops are used to subsidize the needs of the entire reform camp. The little bit of food allocated by the state is not enough to eat. If they don't farm, they don't know how many people will starve to death.
The work in the reclamation camp was even more tiring than road construction, because farm work is never a simple matter. There were also strict production targets from above, and the consequences of not meeting the targets would be very dire.
Although the reclamation camps were tiring, they also had their advantages. The first advantage was safety; the accident rate was much lower than when building railways. Moreover, the management was lax. The reclamation camps were located far from the main railway construction teams and were scattered in separate areas. There were only about a dozen guards in charge of managing thousands of people.
As long as you pay your grain quota, the higher-ups will basically ignore you and won't be afraid of you escaping. This is because the people in the reform camp have branded marks on their faces, and all the Manchus are forced to have the Liu Jinqian rat tail hairstyle. If you dare to run away, you won't be able to get within a hundred miles before the locals recognize you at a glance and catch you to go to the police station to collect a reward. The only punishment for runaways is execution by firing squad!
No one dared to run away, especially after the central government offered the hope of a pardon; even fewer people dared to flee.
The camp where Ke Wu and Rui Ying were located had more than a hundred people, who were stationed in a sheltered place at the foot of the mountain. They all lived in tents, and only the guards had wooden houses.
It's late at night now, and the guards have long since disappeared. They've ridden their horses to the county town to drink and carouse, and have no intention of suffering with the prisoners.
Ke Wu and Rui Ying deliberately lit up their lights to attract attention, while the two of them huddled inside the tent preparing various things.
Sure enough, a moment later, there was some commotion around the camp. Some daring gold prospectors approached the settlement team's camp, hoping to try their luck and see if they could get any supplies.
The gold prospectors, armed to the teeth, rode in on horseback, unafraid of the prisoners in the reformatory, and the prisoners in the reformatory were not afraid of these madmen resorting to violence.
Although the prisoners had no weapons, the gold prospectors dared not have any crooked thoughts, because the reform camp was a state-run official organization, and although it was full of prisoners, it was still state property!
Anyone who dares to rob a reformatory is provoking the state apparatus. If you rob it tonight, tomorrow at dawn, hordes of cavalry and police from all over the country will come to hunt you down.
The gold prospectors who came to the reclamation team all conducted their transactions honestly. Many gold prospectors arrived in the dark and found it inconvenient to travel, so they would spend a few cents to rent a tent to stay overnight.
Some gold prospectors or immigrants who lacked supplies would buy some necessities from prisoners to supplement their supplies. The prisoners who have survived all the way from Northeast China to the present day in the reform camp basically all have unique skills, otherwise they would not have survived until now.
Ke Wu was skilled at dispensing medicine, and Rui Ying also learned traditional Chinese massage from someone else. The two of them have survived to this day by relying on these skills.
After nightfall, Ke Wu hung a tattered cloth at the entrance of the tent with the words "Traditional Chinese Medicine Massage" written on it. Gold prospectors and immigrants would immediately know what this place was for.
Similar things have happened elsewhere. The reform camps have been building railways all the way from Xi'an to the present day. Along the way, they have granted amnesty to many prisoners who have performed well or are elderly, weak, women and children, and allowed them to settle down locally, serving as supply points for immigration routes and railway maintenance.
Along the route from Xi'an to Dihua, apart from towns, these supply points were the only places for gold prospectors and immigrant groups to rest and resupply.
Ke Wu and Rui Ying saw more than a dozen patients in one night. They were either suffering from lumbar injuries or colds, which were relatively easy to treat. When they encountered difficult cases, Ke Wu would just give them some herbal medicine that wouldn't kill them to get by.
Ke Wu was in charge of prescribing medicine. During his journey, he secretly collected a lot of medicinal herbs in various places and processed them privately. The guards wouldn't pay any attention to him, as long as he didn't go too far.
Ke Wu even secretly kept an old ginseng root that he dug up during road construction in the old forests of Northeast China, which he planned to sell when he found a good price.
The transactions at the reclamation team's camp continued until midnight. Both sides got what they needed. The reclamation team didn't have much else, but they still had some grain and some tools and supplies that they had hoarded.
Even prisoners in the reclamation teams could sell information such as wells, shortcuts, wildlife habitats, soil fertility, mineral details, and river and mountain range directions to passing gold prospectors and immigrants.
This information is in high demand, and immigrants are willing to spend money on these services, as they can be life-saving in critical moments.
Meanwhile, prisoners in reformatories obtained money or scarce goods through transactions, and everyone benefited.
Chapter 256 Central Asian Turmoil
Late November, the Altay Mountains are swept by howling winds.
A group of gold prospectors, wrapped in fur coats and looking like balls, were trudging along, each step requiring them to brave the wind and snow.
The entire team consisted of more than forty people and a dozen horses, which carried various types of ammunition, food, tents, and fuel for camping.
This group of gold prospectors set off from Dihua City. The members were very diverse, with the majority being reformed bandits from the south, as well as outlaws from the Central Plains. The rest were either Han Chinese from the grasslands or Manchus who had been pardoned and still had gold seals on their faces. In short, there wasn't a single good person among them.
No good person would wander around the Altay Mountains during this season. When the team first set off, there were 65 people. Along the way, many were beaten to death, froze to death, died of disease, or fell to their deaths.
The team was almost fully armed, with each person carrying a brand-new Type 02 rifle. Several leaders also carried Type 02 light machine guns, their bodies were full of magazines and bullet belts, and they also had several grenades tucked into their waistbands.
"Boss, it seems we've crossed the border. That stone tablet we just passed was covered in foreign writing. I guess it's a border marker erected by those foreign devils?" The pockmarked leader, holding a map, found his boss.
The one-eyed leader pushed the map aside: "I don't recognize maps, why are you showing them to me? Besides, I don't recognize the boundary markers erected by the foreigners. All the land under heaven belongs to the emperor, so what's this about crossing the boundary?!"
"Bring Instructor Lin over. He went to military academy; let him identify the map!"
The group was forced to stop and rest because they couldn't find their way. The leaders gathered together to discuss which way to go.
Mo Lin, a Manchu man with a gold seal on his face, walked over carrying a short-barreled lance and said with a look of disdain, "One-Eyed and Wang Mazi, you two are always doing stupid things. You led us astray and killed several brothers before, and now you've led us astray again in this snowy weather. I think you two won't stop until you've killed everyone!"
The leader of the gang, One-Eyed, was from western Hunan. In the early days of fighting, he loaded too much gunpowder into his gun, causing it to explode and blind him in one eye. Wang Mazi happened to be the one he shot. Fortunately, the gun exploded, and the gunpowder wasn't strong enough, only leaving Wang Mazi with a face full of pits.
These two were the biggest shareholders in the group, bringing more than twenty brothers with them, which is why they became the leaders and bosses.
Mo Lin, a Manchu, was a ruthless man from a reformatory. He had a gold mark on his face, so everyone called him Instructor Lin. But he really was capable of being an instructor. In his early years, he came from the Military Academy and was a guard in the Forbidden City. In the end, he joined the New Army and was captured during the Northern Expedition. He was lucky enough to escape the order of killing one out of ten.
But he endured many years of hardship before being granted amnesty last year. Unable to stay in the interior, he had no choice but to come to the Northwest to seek a way to make a living.
Morin's skills in archery and close combat were superb. Along the way, he eliminated many gold prospectors who wanted to steal his gold. Several Mongolians in the group admired his skills and chose to follow him.
"Instructor Lin, stop with the nonsense. We guys wouldn't even know what's going on if our carrying poles fell over. Only you, a master of both literature and martial arts, are like Confucius with a sword at your waist. Hurry up and find a way out." Xiong Xiazi, the bandit leader from Shandong, said, breathing out hot air. Xiong Xiazi lived up to his name, as he was a bandit from Shandong. He was a full 1.97 meters tall and, more importantly, all muscle.
The bear is now covered in a wolf skin, making him look round and chubby. From a distance, he really looks like a bear. But his eyesight is terrible and his marksmanship is awful. He almost shot his own men several times. Everyone in the team calls him the bear.
The bear's only skill is that he is invincible in close combat and has amazing strength. He is now carrying a mortar on his back. While others carry grenades on their waists, he carries a row of mortar shells on his waist.
"You ask me, I ask the heavens!"
"I knew you two were leading us into a pit again. I sent a few Mongolian brothers to scout ahead. We'll talk to them when they get back!"
Molin was at a loss. It was a snowy, mountainous terrain with some kind of magnetic field interference. His compass was useless, and he couldn't find any landmarks. Even a map was pointless.
However, good news soon came back. Several Mongolians on horseback returned one after another, bringing back news that excited everyone—there was a Russian settlement on the edge of the foothills three kilometers ahead!