Liu Wenhui attached great importance to Zhuang Jiehua's journey to Yunnan border. He specially sent a telegram from Chengdu to ask Ren Naiqiang, chairman of the Xikang Economic Development Committee, to accompany him to inspect Huili and Dechang area.[]

When Ren Naiqiang received Zhuang Jihua and his group in Xichang, he was surprised and happy. It was obvious that Zhuang Jihua was really here to develop the Huili area. There were a large number of experts in his team, carrying a large number of instruments and equipment. There were hundreds of mules carrying equipment alone. In addition to the special forces and guard team led by Song Yunfei himself, the total number of people reached 400.

Ren Naiqiang and his excitedly accompanied Zhuang Jihua to the Renhe area of ​​Heli Yan Bian, and continued to introduce the nation, history, resources, and the famous gentry and leader in this area. But the more Zhuang Jihua went, the less uncomfortable he felt. There were all the unfavorable conditions for development here.

This is a barren land, also a blocked, backward, and ignorant land. From here to the mainland, there is only a dirt road with two horses parallel. Once the rain water is poured, the mud is difficult to walk. For hundreds of years, Han, Yi and Miao are clearly divided here. For hundreds of years, it is full of Han Yi vendetta, Miao Yi vendetta, Han Miao and Miao, and fighting enemies within the tribe. There is no country here, only family. The main commodity here is opium. They encountered more than a dozen horse gangs along the way, and opium merchants hired them to buy opium along the village.

The Yi villages on the far hillside are piled with low stone houses. Occasionally, Yi women wearing ethnic costumes carry baskets on their backs. Their eyes are timid and hatred. The walls of each Yi village are covered with shadows, and it is obvious that they are guarding against them.

Can you build a steel city on such a piece of land? Zhuang Jihua has no idea, no doubt at all.

"The Liangshan area is a multi-ethnic area. Since ancient times, the imperial court has set up four Xuanwei Offices here to manage these ethnic minorities, namely the Xuanfu Office of Qiongbu, the Xuanfu Office of Shama, the Chief Adu, and the Chief Leibo Qianwanguan Office of Leibo. It extends to the Dadu River in the north, to the Jinsha River in the south, to Wumeng Mountain in the east, and to Yanyuan Yanjing in the west, all ethnic minorities belong to the Lili Tusi family. The ancestor of the Lili family followed the Yuan army to conquer the Liangshan area and made contributions, and the Yuan Dynasty emperor

The emperor set up the Luoluosi Xuanwei Office here and appointed him as the Xuanwei Envoy. Later, during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, his fifth generation grandson was appointed An Pei as the Tushima Commander of Sichuan Xingdu Commander. Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty changed the title of An Taining, a descendant of the An family, to the Hexi Fuyi Office (the general position of Tuqian). During the Qianlong period, he was also appointed as the Hedong Fuyi Office. During the Jiaqing period, An Wuling inherited the Hexi Fuyi Office, and An Yuzhi inherited the Hedong Chief License. In the early years of Tongzhi, the chieftain An Shaohui died in his succession.

The 15th year of the Republic of China (196), the court was established by the Emperor Xuanfusi, the Emperor Fuyi Department of the Hexi Province and the Chief of the Hedong Province. Under these great chieftains, the imperial court also had Tuqian households, Tushou, Tumu, Tuqian General, Tuxiang General, etc. After entering the Republic of China, the chieftain system still played a role within the Yi people, but the changes were very big. Xuanwei Department had already been in name only. The Tuqian General, Tuqian General, Tushihou General, Tushihou General, but the Tushihou General were gradually abolished. The management became two levels, the chieftain and the head of each village were one head of the head, and the head of the chieftain was responsible for the chieftain. Specifically, the Yi people in Huili area were under the jurisdiction of the chieftains, and the chieftains were protected by the chieftains and their own families. Ren Naiqiang's mouth splash was very hard to introduce the historical evolution of the Liangshan area, while Zhuang Jihua was only left to maintain polite patience, and his worries became increasingly serious.

"In addition to iron ore, there should be copper ore in this area. The local Yi people have developed the copper ore here, and some small mine caves are left behind." Ren Naiqiang seemed not to see Zhuang Jihua's face, and continued to "show off" his knowledge and seduce Zhuang Jihua.

"How is their relationship with the government?" Zhuang Jihua finally couldn't help asking.

"Oh no, Xu Ying cut off Lu Anyou, the leader of the Lu family, and killed his wife and daughter. His third uncle is now on duty in Xichang." Ren Naiqiang explained embarrassedly: "What we are doing now is the shift change method of the Qing Dynasty, that is, every chieftain will send their male relatives to the county government as hostages, and rotate them every time..."

"Why should we adopt this method?" The government took hostages? Isn't this a kidnapper? Zhuang Jihua couldn't help but shake his head. It would be strange if the relationship continues like this.

"This is a long story," Ren Naiqiang said: "According to my investigation, since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the reform of the land and the return of the land began to be implemented here. The chieftain opposed the reform of the land and the return of the land and the return of the land and the rebellion began. The Qing court suppressed it, and the chieftain surrendered when he was beaten so hard that he could not bear it. Once the pressure on the court was relaxed, he would rebel again. Over and over again, some people proposed this method. The result was not bad, and the Yi people rebelled a lot."

Ren Naiqiang looked at Zhuang Jihua's face. He said so much, but in fact he was worried that Zhuang Jihua would not "invest" here. He also knew that the conditions here were very poor. In addition to ethnic conflicts, there were also bandits. These bandits were not traditional bandits who gathered in the mountains and forests, but poor Yi people in the deep mountains. These Yi people live in the mountains and forests, and their living conditions are very difficult. They often come out of the mountains to rob. Han people and Bai Yi often suffer, so they have no protection from the army, so it is very difficult to develop here.

"Not bad?" Zhuang Jihua shook his head. He could never accept such a good thing. However, this obviously unreasonable system was not so strongly resistant to enlightened people like Ren Naiqiang, which shows that the ethnic conflicts here have been deeply rooted and it is more difficult to change them than imagined.

"This area is controlled by General Liu Ziqian. How many troops are there?" Since you understand the danger here, the first thing you need to consider is safety.

"The garrison in Xichang area is the 1st Brigade of the 24th Army, the commander of the brigade Liu Yuantang, and four regiments of total strength. The commander of his 33rd Regiment was stationed in Huili area. There were also a security regiment, with about 200 people, and the commander of the regiment was Mu Shanzhu." Ren Naiqiang paused for a moment and said, "If you want to build here, you must transfer one person. Yi affairs commander Deng Xiuting, with him, the Yi people in several counties around him would never dare to rebel."

"Deng Xiuting," Zhuang Jihua had heard of this name, but he saw it in the situation report on the Tibet border. He made great contributions to the battle between Sichuan and Tibet in the place that occurred two years ago. His troops were Liu Wenhui's stable Xikang team: "Where is he now?"

"Craft grain in Mianning Bridge area."

"Can you go to the Tusi's house to see it?" Zhuang Jihuaxiang understood whether these Yi people were really difficult to date. Ren Naiqiang's description made him really worried and wanted to get in touch with him personally.

"It's nothing to go there. There are many Baiyi here and they get along well with the Han people." Ren Naiqiang said.

Bai Yi is a free folk among the Yi people, and Black Yi is a slave owner among the Yi people. Yi people prefer black and regard black as the most valuable, so Black Yi has a higher status than Bai Yi, but society is not static. Under the impact of the Han economic system, the Yi people's society in the Han Yi mixed area has begun to disintegrate, and the Yi tribes in the Yi people who stick to the original social structure moved into the mountains and became more poor, and many Black Yi have become tenants.

"I don't go to those Bai Yi families, I want to go to the Tusi family in the mountains." Zhuang Jihua shook his head and said, knowing in his heart that most Bai Yi people have become obedient people, and they will not cause trouble. The real trouble comes from the Yi people in the mountains and forests.

Ren Naiqiang smiled bitterly and said, "I'll make arrangements. But I guess I'll meet them soon."

In Huili Zhuang Jihua, he met Xu Ying, the commander of the 33rd Regiment, the highest commander of the local garrison. Xu Ying did not participate in the Battle of Second Liu two years ago. He belonged to the troops left behind in Xikang, which is the second-rate unit of Liu Wenhui's 24th Army. When Liu Wenhui was in full swing, he looked down on him, but after the Battle of Second Liu, Liu Wenhui's elite troops suffered heavy losses, and a second-rate unit like him became a first-rate unit, and was directly assigned to the First Brigade and became a direct unit.

Xu Ying didn't know Zhuang Jihua, he just heard that this person was very powerful. General Liu was defeated and he was attacking the enemy behind his back. But before he came, Liu Wenhui from Chengdu and Liu Yuantang from Xichang both sent him a telegram, asking him to protect the safety of the development team. His tone was so harsh that he was a little frightened.

After a routine greeting at the city gate, Zhuang Jihua and his group were sent to the camp that had been prepared long ago. Zhuang Jihua asked about the situation in the Hanyi situation.

"Please rest assured General Zhuang. I will send someone to explain clearly to the Yi people who left. If there are people who harassed the development team, there will be no mercy!" Xu Ying immediately assured Zhuang Jihua that his eyes were full of strong confidence. Since he killed Lu Anyou's family in public the previous year, the Yi people here were afraid of mentioning his name and did not dare to disobey his orders.

"Captain Xu, I want to build a hydropower station, mine, build a steel plant, build a road, and railway here." Zhuang Jihua frowned and said, "What I want is not a day or two, but long-term stability."

As soon as Zhuang Jihua said this, the local officials and gentry immediately became energetic and began to become active in the living room.

"When will General Zhuang start? How do we need local assistance?" the county magistrate asked by pinching his beard. "This time I came to determine how to start. As for the specific steps, they need them," Zhuang Jihua pointed at the expert professor on the spot with his finger: "It's up to them to determine, and I'm responsible for providing them with a good environment. As for your relatives, I'll ask you to discuss it after you have a specific plan."

On the way here, Zhuang Jihua already understood what he wanted to do. In the past two years, highways have been built in Sichuan. Zhuang Jihua has provided funds, and the same is true for Xikang. However, after Liu Wenhui's defeat, he hurried in Xikang, his strength was greatly weakened, his financial situation was very poor, and the funds for road traffic construction were misappropriated. The construction of highways was very rough and simple. Most places can be said to be shoddy and perfunctory. Except for Ya'an to Chengdu, where cars are barely accessible, other places cannot be opened to traffic, so the first thing he has to do now is to build roads.

"Captain Xu, County Magistrate Zhang, the development team must be divided into several teams. Our guards and civilians are not enough, so we can only ask for help from two people." Zhuang Jihua then made a request to Xu Ying and County Magistrate Zhang.

The two of them naturally agreed. Zhuang Jihua didn't say anything, and paid them a labor fee of two thousand oceans to them first, indicating that the wages of each soldier and civilian husband were two thousand oceans a day.

After they dispersed, Zhuang Jihua called the experts to a meeting. At this meeting, Ren Naiqiang first introduced the conflict between the Yi people here and the Han Yi. Then Zhuang Jihua said:

"After Mr. Ren's introduction, we understood the complex ethnic relations here. When we were in Chongqing, we decided to build a steel plant here because there were rich mineral resources. But now I am a little confused about whether we should build a factory here. I would like to ask everyone to discuss it."

As soon as Zhuang Jihua finished speaking, geological expert Chang Longqing stood up and said, "The situation is not that serious. I have been here for three months, and I have visited the mountains and forests. I have seen them. I feel that they are very simple and not as unreasonable as the legend. As long as you respect them, they will not violate us."

"If you don't build a factory here and build a factory in Chongqing, transportation will be a big problem," said Li Shutian, a civil engineering expert. "Transport the ore to Chongqing. It takes hundreds of kilometers. How many vehicles do you need to transport it? How much does gasoline cost? Can it meet production needs?"

Li Shutian's problem hit the nail on the head. It is easier to build it in Chongqing, but once it is started, how much transportation capacity is needed to meet production needs and how many problems will arise, these are unimaginable.

The experts present started to talk. Gradually, the opinions were consistent. Even if a force was needed to be stationed here to protect the factory, the factory should be built here.

"Since everyone agrees, let's talk about where to start." Zhuang Jihua said at the end.

"It's still the traffic. The roads here are too poor. They cannot be opened to traffic at all. A high-grade highway from Chongqing to Huili must be built. Otherwise, the equipment room cannot be transported in."

"The power, Huili area has no electricity at all. One must build a factory here or a hydropower station." Finally, it is said: "One, build roads; two, build a hydropower station; three, start mining; four, build a factory. All our current work revolves around these four. It takes at least one year, one year or more to build a hydropower station. The hydropower station takes about one year to one and a half years, and start building a factory after electricity. This will take about two years. If there is no accident, the steel plant will be able to produce steel in about five to six years." When Zhuang Jihua said this, he shook his head: "No, we don't have that much time, and the Japanese will not give us so much time."

The venue suddenly became quiet. From the day the development team started working, Zhuang Jihua repeatedly emphasized time, emphasizing that the outbreak of a total war will not exceed five to six years, and now there are three to four years left. If the planned steel plant will take five to six years to produce steel, then due to the influence of the war, time will probably be delayed until ten years later. How much role can it play in the war?

"How to do it synchronously?" Ren Naiqiang said. It was his first time to have a secret in the development team. The shock in his heart was strong. He now understood the ultimate goal of the southwest development site. This purpose once made Liu Wenhui and the others guess for a long time: "Some roads here can still be used, so mines can be developed first, and there are hydropower stations. The construction of hydropower stations requires cement, generators and transmission equipment. The road from Ya'an to Chengdu can still be opened to traffic. These can be transported to Ya'an first, so we must first build Huili, Xichang to Ya'an. This road I guaranteed to be opened to traffic within half a year. In addition, the road from Huili to Chongqing can also start construction at the same time. Also, the Jinsha River is not unavailable, and some equipment can be transported through water."

When he said that, Zhuang Jihua stood in front of the map and carefully reviewed the map. At present, the road around Chongqing had been repaired. He used his finger to draw a curve on the map from Longchang, through Zigong, Jianwei, Muchuan, Yuexi, Xichang, and then to Huili.

"Jinsha River Water Transport?" Zhuang Jihua looked up at Ren Naiqiang. He didn't know about the Jinsha River, but only knew that it was the most dangerous waterway in China, and the transportation difficulties were even greater than those in the Three Gorges.

"The Jinsha River can be transported by water," Ren Naiqiang said in a stressful tone: "The British have tried it. After putting down three boats, two of them will arrive safely in Yibin."

Zhuang Jihua almost squirted, which is also called water transportation. Sure enough, water conservancy expert Cao Ruizhi retorted: "The drop of this section of Jinsha River is too large and the water flow is too fast, which is conducive to power generation, but is not conducive to shipping. The danger of this section of the waterway is far greater than that of the Three Gorges Waterway. Even if the road is built, it is impossible to build the road from Huili to Chongqing in a year. Please see, from Huili to Chongqing, there are many rivers, the big ones include the Dadu River, Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, and other small rivers. There are seven or eight road bridges to be built. It is impossible to complete so many bridges within one year."

This almost knocked down Zhuang Jihua. Yes, so many bridges could not be completed within one year. His mind began to turn to how to expand Qijiang Steel Plant and Chongqing Steel Plant. But he thought it was wrong. These two factories alone would definitely not meet the needs of the War of Resistance.

It seems that Panzhihua still needs to be built, but it cannot be given much hope. In eastern and central Sichuan, southern Sichuan, and in southern Sichuan, we must strengthen the exploration efforts and strive to find a few more large mines.

Something happened yesterday, I didn't go tonight

Please give me a monthly ticket

——
Chapter completed!