In mid-March, the freighter carrying the machine entered Sichuan and was about to arrive at Chaotianmen Pier.
Zhang Mouzhi stood on the deck of the river ship, looked at the dock and praised: "Chongqing is a good place, with convenient water transportation, not much worse than Jiujiang."
"So, as long as Liu Xiang can continue to occupy Chongqing and develop the economy well, sooner or later he will be able to unify Sichuan," Zhou Hexuan said, pointing to Chaotianmen Pier, "Sichuan's guns and ammunition can only be purchased through the Yangtze River waterway.
Otherwise, we can only purchase goods from the southwest. From this point of view, Liu Xiang's military logistics supplies are much more convenient than those of his opponents."
"Hey, what is that?" Zhang Mouzhi asked in surprise, pointing to the small ship on the river in the distance.
Zhou Hexuan quickly looked around and saw those river ships with strange shapes, with iron plates on both sides of the hull and a gun barrel welded on each side. He was unsure: "Is this an armed ship?"
The captain of the freighter responsible for transporting the machine obviously knew much better than them. When he saw the small river ships equipped with cannons, the captain immediately shouted in horror: "Be careful, be careful, be careful not to capsize Commander Liu's warship!"
You have to pay for it.”
Zhou Hexuan sweated furiously when he heard this and didn't know what to say.
The Mongolian navy in later generations was famous. A landlocked country that was not close to the sea, it just built a navy with three ships and seven people.
Liu Xiang's navy was also famous. It modified ordinary small river ships, installed iron plates for armor, and installed two small steel cannons as naval guns. They often trained and cruised in the Yangtze River.
This made the fishermen along the river very worried. They were not afraid of being hit and sunk by warships, but they were afraid that they would accidentally capsize the warship while driving their fishing boat. At that time, there was a folk song in Chongqing that went like this: Gaoer's small fishing boat along the river
, you will have to pay money if you capsize a warship. It cost 55,000 yuan to buy the ship, and 33,000 yuan to buy the cannon.
Liu Xiang's warship is not only small in tonnage and power, it is more fun to fire. Every time it fires, the hull will move backwards a lot due to the recoil. However, the Sichuan Army's technology in transforming warships is not bad, and the two small steel cannons are welded together.
It's standard enough, so it won't cause the warship to spin on the river as soon as the cannon is fired.
Zhou Hexuan quickly took out his camera and took crazy photos of several Sichuan Army "warships" on the river. These photos will be precious decades later.
After everyone landed, they immediately contacted the porter at the dock to transfer the machine. Zhang Mouzhi was very pleased with what happened next.
"It seems that Liu Xiang understands civil affairs. We were charged a lot of exorbitant taxes along the way. On the contrary, when we arrived in Chongqing, we only had to pay a customs duty at Chaotianmen Wharf." Zhang Mouzhi had a good first impression of Liu Xiang.
A local who was hired to transport the machine said: "This is all thanks to Director Liu."
"Who is Director Liu?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
The local said: "Liu Hangchen, director of the Financial Department of the Sichuan Rehabilitation Supervisory Office, is a top student at Peking University. Now he specializes in helping Commander Liu manage finances. Director Liu just took office and abolished more than 30 tax bureaus. What are we doing?"
Moving days were much better.”
Zhang Mouzhi asked curiously: "This is strange. Usually those who help warlords with finances try every means to increase taxes. Liu Hangchen actually abolished taxation agencies?"
"That's not true. Nowadays, it is said that Director Liu is the reincarnation of the God of Wealth," the local said enthusiastically. "I heard that one month after Director Liu took office, he allowed the superintendent to have a tax balance of more than 100.
million, and the balance was more than 2 million in the second month.”
"It's a bit interesting." Zhou Hexuan smiled.
The local said: "It's more than interesting. Director Liu has many stories. In the past, when soldiers borrowed money from merchants, they always borrowed money without repaying it. Everyone just treated it as a waste of money and to avoid disasters. After Director Liu took office, he was also very busy.
I hurriedly borrowed money from everywhere, but people are very trustworthy. After the loan expired, no merchant dared to ask for the account, but Director Liu personally brought people to the door to pay back the money, including the interest, which was not a penny!"
Zhou Hexuan suddenly understood why Liu Xiang in history was able to gain a firm foothold among the many warlords in the Sichuan Army and finally nominally unified Sichuan.
It is very important to have an expert under you who knows how to manage money and how to win over people's hearts!
…
Chongqing is obviously different from other places. There are almost no rickshaws here.
It’s a mountain city, and pulling a rickshaw is so exhausting!
The usual means of transportation is a sliding pole, two strong long bamboo poles tied into a stretcher, with a bamboo woven lounge chair in the middle. Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Mouzhi sat on the sliding pole, and the bearers carried the sliding pole up the hill, feeling quite comfortable as they swayed.
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Not to mention compared with Tianjin and Shanghai, even compared with Jiujiang, Chongqing at this time seems very backward.
There are basically no modern buildings to be seen, and there are traditional wooden buildings or bamboo baskets everywhere. Liu Xiang has only been operating here for a year or two. Chongqing has not developed yet, and there may be more significant changes in a few years.
The two of them took their entourage all the way from Chaotianmen to Caiyuanba. After setting up the machine, they prepared to find a hotel nearby to rest.
At this moment, a group of people walked towards them, and pedestrians on the street took cover.
The two slide pole porters who were carrying Zhou Hexuan also quickly got out of the way and almost dropped Zhou Hexuan.
A Sichuan horse dragging a cart was so frightened that it knocked over a hawker stall on the street. The hawker immediately started arguing with the cart driver. One of the lions asked for compensation, while the other only wanted to compensate for the damaged goods. The quarrel was furious.
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The person who caused the commotion was a big fat man. He was also sitting on the sliding pole and said impatiently: "Why are you making such a fuss? It's a big deal, but you're going to be red and blue in the face. It's a lot of money, I'll pay for it!"
The hawker immediately stepped forward with a smile and said: "Ha Gong, a small business is not worth a few dollars, just two oceans is enough."
"Give him two dollars," the fat man waved to his entourage, "Hurry up, don't delay me from watching the Sichuan opera."
Zhou Hexuan suddenly understood something when he heard the hawker calling the fat man "Ha Gong". He asked aloud: "But Commander Fan?"
When he first heard the standard Mandarin, the big fat man was a little stunned. He looked at Zhou Hexuan doubtfully and asked: "Who are you? How do you recognize me?"
"I, Zhou Hexuan." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
The big fat man muttered to his subordinates: "Could it be that some central official who came to Chongqing on official business spoke official Mandarin well?"
He really had some understanding people under his command, so he immediately replied: "Mr. Ha, this gentleman is incredible. He is a famous scholar all over the world. Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek wants to read his books, and even sends copies of his books to
Read it if you are an official!"
"That's awesome!" The big fat man was startled and said to himself, "Hey, I can't tell. How can he recognize me?"
His subordinates flattered him and said, "It means Mr. Ha has become famous far and wide. Even university scholars know about you!"
"Hey, I want it, I want it," the big fat man quickly got off the slide and shouted happily, "Mr. Zhou, let's go to the theater together. I, Fan Haer, will be your host, and I guarantee that you will have a great time in Chongqing!"