"The war … is over?" Uncle En sat across from Vézé and described the recent events in a very skeptical tone.
"As long as the British sign an investment agreement with us in Australia and New Zealand, the war is basically over."
"An investment agreement?" Uncle En immediately became vigilant. After spending so much time with Vézé, Uncle En had a strong sense of doubt about Vézé's choice. If a person always acted with ideas beyond the imagination of normal people and could still achieve their goals, it would easily become a habit to be vigilant against such a person.
Vézé walked to the side of the world map and used his finger to draw a vertical line from south to north in the west of central Australia. "From here to the west, we want 200 years of exploration and mining rights."
Uncle En was not familiar with the geography of Australia. Seeing Vézé's exorbitant demand, he asked sarcastically, "Will the British agree?"
Seeing that he could show off his knowledge, Vézé put away his smile and said sternly, "The place west of this line is the desert and no man's land. It is near the sea, but there is no water source. The total population of the British in this approximately two million square kilometers of land is less than 100,000. Do you think the British will fall out with China for such a barren place? "
Uncle En did not comment on this. The problem of the British Empire could be explained with one word, that was, 'lack of people.' The Min dynasty had a population of 800 million, but they still felt that the labor force was insufficient. The British Empire had a population of 40 million, but they were also divided into many different ethnic groups. Even with such internal divisions, the British Empire still felt that there were too many useless people in their country. The attitude of the bourgeoisie towards the population would never change. Since it was destined to fail, it was not surprising that the British agreed with China.
Uncle En's eyes slowly swept across the upper half of the world map, and he saw an unprecedentedly huge Min dynasty. They crossed Asia and North America, holding half of the Pacific Ocean in their hands. They controlled the Indian Ocean to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Although the British owned the original northeast part of the United States, after the Min dynasty owned New York, they had one of the best ports in North America. On the entire Atlantic coast, there was probably no country that could compete with the fleet of the Min dynasty.
"Why didn't the Americans carry out the people's war?" Uncle En's train of thought finally landed on this question.
"Because the American people believe that the American government and the authorities are all high and mighty masters. And we, the people of China, believe that all our spoils of war will become the wealth of the people. It would not become the wealth of a small number of people or a specific group of people, but the wealth of all the people of China. Therefore, we can't say that the United States doesn't have a people's war at all. It's just that the people's war in China is more thorough and real than the people's war in the United States. "Vézé made a final judgment.
Such an arbitrary explanation made Uncle En feel a little short of breath. He had to admit that Vézé was a very progressive person, and he had not shown his reactionary side so far. However, among all the correct choices Vézé made, there was no pity in Vézé. This was a common human reaction, but Uncle En did not see such an emotion in Vézé. Vézé's view of things was more like a mathematical formula.
Ignoring Uncle En's sigh, Vézé asked straightforwardly, "Mr. Engels, what do you think of the enterprise management system we have implemented in the past two years?"
Enterprise management was one of the pillars of a country's operation. The industrial development of Europe and the United States entered the high-speed channel when enterprises began to generally adopt the Taylor management system. At that time, it was the American enterprises that walked in the forefront. Vézé was well aware of the extent to which modern war could promote employment. He also knew what kind of economic impact would be triggered after the end of modern war. Once the forced production, which almost disregarded the cost, ended, large enterprises would go bankrupt. After thinking hard, Vézé came up with a solution to implement a new enterprise management model on a national scale.
"This management model can indeed promote the development of productivity." Uncle En had always been supportive of these measures to promote social progress. "I am very interested in the interpersonal relationships under the new production model."
Under the capitalist system, people were naturally divided, and the bourgeoisie naturally occupied a decisive position. Under China's social system and new management model, workers and management were two-way choices. Would this new model produce a new natural determinant class, or would it produce a new social form? Uncle En was really interested in this.
Seeing that he actually walked "ahead" of Uncle En, Vézé was actually very discouraged. It wasn't that he thought Uncle En's level was limited. Uncle En's level was very high, and Uncle En's attitude was specific analysis of specific problems and would never make any assumptions.
The problem now was that Vézé himself did his best to withdraw from the decision that he thought was the most suitable for the current situation. This field was completely new to Vézé. In a country not ruled by the bourgeoisie, Vézé really didn't know which country in history had successfully tried to improve the level of enterprises through a complete survival of the fittest model. There were countless cases of failure or abandonment of the burden.
Without any help from Uncle En, Vézé could only follow the normal development of things, which was to take one step at a time. The most important task at the moment was to select a group of backbones for the next ten years at the same time as the retirement. It was enough for the current Min dynasty to have a standing army of 1.8 million. The standing army of 1.8 million was not only to defend, but also to build an army that could win the next war in this period of peace.
So Vézé called Shen Xin, "Shen Xin, have you prepared the list of members of the Retirement Review Board?"
"I'm ready," Shen Xin immediately replied. Even if he didn't expect the war to end so easily, Shen Xin had always been methodical and would never advance or lag because of personal opinions.
"Give the list to the Military Commission and let the Military Commission conduct a comprehensive review of these personnel." Vézé was greatly relieved.
On August 15, 1891, Qi Rui received an order to leave the front line and return to Xinxiang. The war in North America was not completely over, but Qi Rui didn't want to stay a minute longer. After he handed over his work, he immediately got on the nearest train. If it was in the past, Qi Rui would definitely take out his notebook, record his insights, and review everything that he had recorded before. This time, Qi Rui did not do that. Everything he had was packed. Other than a towel, a teapot, soap, and a simple change of clothes, Qi Rui only brought a small blank notebook and a small pencil case with pencils, pens, a ruler, and an eraser. Qi Rui, who was finally able to leave the battlefield, completely left the battlefield behind.
In the next three days, Qi Rui slept, zoned out, and looked at the scenery in the car every day. On the first day, Qi Rui slept in a daze. Several times, he suddenly felt nervous and uneasy. When he woke up, he immediately wanted to solve the military affairs. However, looking at the narrow sleeping compartment, it took Qi Rui a lot of effort to convince himself that he had left the battlefield.
The next day, Qi Rui's mood began to become inexplicably gloomy. He didn't want to eat anything all day. He just lay on the sleeping compartment and looked at the bed board above. Although he wanted to think about something in his mind, Qi Rui found that no matter what it was, there was no way to enter his mind. No matter what thought it was, it would quickly trigger Qi Rui's confirmation that he had left the battlefield. With this confirmation, Qi Rui's interest in everything immediately waned, and he didn't care at all.
On the third day, Qi Rui found that the guard who followed him looked very nervous. He wanted to open his mouth to speak, but Qi Rui found that he couldn't say anything. His body seemed to be disconnected from his consciousness, as if he had forgotten how to speak. Thinking back, Qi Rui found that since he was sure that he would leave three days ago, Qi Rui hadn't said a word. In fact, it wasn't just these three days. For a long time before that, Qi Rui couldn't remember when was the last time he spoke because someone wanted to talk. He also spoke, but the purpose of speaking was to complete his work.
Qi Rui could clearly remember the last time he had the urge to speak was when his father, Vézé, went to North America for an inspection. At that time, Qi Rui asked a lot of questions. At the same time, he also benefited a lot. That was already a year and a half ago. As for after that, Qi Rui was completely forced into a stage. In order to win the war, Qi Rui devoted himself to it. Until now, he was able to leave that world.
"I'm fine." Qi Rui finally said. This voice was a little dry and hoarse, which was very different from Qi Rui's memory of his own voice.
"Political Commissar, I'll make you a cup of tea," the guard quickly replied.
Qi Rui just nodded and lay down on the bed again. He looked up and put his hands behind his head. Qi Rui quietly thought, what am I going to do after the war is over? He didn't know what he was going to do. But a scene from the past emerged. It was a summer afternoon, the sun was shining warmly. In the water by the lake, beautiful swan parents were swimming with their fluffy gray children. There was no wind, and the lake was as calm as a mirror. The sky was reflected on the lake, and it was so blue. Lying on the slope, his feet were high, and his head was low. Two kinds of blue came into view at the same time. Qi Rui didn't even know which side was the sky and which was the lake.
That was the Great Slave Lake. Qi Rui finally remembered a clear memory of the past. Then, like throwing a pebble into a lake, the transparent barrier between reality and memories began to fluctuate, and more memories began to flash.
On the shore of the Great Slave Lake, there was a railway and a wooden house. It was built by Qi Rui and his comrades. The crane from the Great Slave Lake port came from the lake, and a tugboat hoisted up a large number of steel rails and put them on the rails to erect vehicles. These vehicles didn't have the locomotive pulling the rails in front, but pushed from the back, so that the rails could be more easily unloaded onto the sleepers. The installed rails were hoisted up and laid on the gravel of the ballast. It was also at that time that Qi Rui first had the idea of using trucks on a large scale on the battlefield.
He was still lying there, but Qi Rui began to wipe his eyes and cheeks from time to time. The memories came out on their own, and he didn't have to waste any effort to recall them. Such an easy process made Qi Rui cry uncontrollably. Qi Rui could see his current cold and empty self when he thought back to the sentimental and sentimental young man he used to be. Comparing the two, Qi Rui found that he couldn't help but cry. It had been four years. Qi Rui finally realized that he had spent four years in the war. In these four years, changes had happened unknowingly. When Qi Rui finally had the time to look back at himself, he found that he had changed beyond recognition.
On the evening of the fourth day, the train arrived at Xinxiang City. As soon as he arrived at the city, Qi Rui suddenly wondered if he had remembered something wrong. In Qi Rui's memory, Xinxiang City was a military city. However, the number of people wearing military uniforms in Xinxiang City was far less than before. This military city seemed to have been transformed into a large, normal city in the blink of an eye by some magic.
However, when Qi Rui thought about it, he hadn't been back to Xinxiang City for nearly three years. Although Xinxiang City was still fixed in Qi Rui's memory, reality was far from this. With some sadness, Qi Rui entered the North American Theater of Operations Headquarters.
The person in the headquarters was a senior colonel on duty. The senior colonel was an unfamiliar face. At least, Qi Rui didn't remember seeing him. The senior colonel looked at the major general who was younger than him with an envious gaze, and when he heard Qi Rui's name, he immediately became very excited. "Director Qi, if you hadn't gone to Portland, I would have been able to attend your lecture. It's such a pity! "
With this mention, some of his memory came back. Qi Rui recalled that he was indeed teaching in Xinxiang City at that time. Not long after, he was sent to the branch in Portland to talk about motorized warfare. Because the students attending the lecture were all frontline combatants, other than motorized infantry warfare, the students' combat knowledge and skills were probably better than Qi Rui's.
The two of them talked for about twenty minutes before they heard footsteps coming from outside. The person who came in was a lieutenant general. Qi Rui had seen him before, but that was all. As a frontline combatant and a brand new professional motorized infantry, Qi Rui had never been in the theater of operations headquarters. He wasn't familiar with these people.
"Your car was late, so I went home to eat first. Sorry to keep you waiting! "The lieutenant general held Qi Rui's hand and explained in a friendly manner.
Go home to eat? Go home to eat during a war? Qi Rui really couldn't understand this. This was a war, and the situation of the war was ever-changing. The theater of operations headquarters should be on duty 24 hours a day without the slightest pause. In the end, the person on duty was a senior colonel. The person in charge of the theater of operations headquarters went home to eat. What kind of logic is this?
If it was in the past, Qi Rui would have already asked this question. Even if he didn't ask, the feeling in his heart would naturally show on his face. Now, Qi Rui only felt that his emotions were shaken. As for whether it was happiness or sadness, he didn't know. But this kind of emotion didn't affect the current Qi Rui at all. He said faintly, "Can I hand over the work now?"
"The military commission ordered you to return home. But they can't directly order you to return home, so they asked you to go back to Xinxiang first, then go to Vancouver to take a ship back home. "The lieutenant general's answer was very straightforward, and he explained the matter clearly in a few words.
"Then … can I book a train ticket now?" Qi Rui asked.
This surprised the lieutenant general. Even though there was no arrangement to entertain Qi Rui, the lieutenant general still advised, "Political Commissar Qi, after you come, you should at least rest for a few days before you leave, right? You have already been on the train for a few days. If you take the train again, can you stand it? "
"This is not a problem. I just want to go back to Nanjing as soon as possible, "Qi Rui replied decisively.
Seeing that Qi Rui's attitude was firm, the lieutenant general replied, "… Okay, I will arrange a parking space for you now. By the way, the military academy said that Political Commissar Qi left a lot of things in your office in Portland. How about you send someone there to pack things up? We are worried that if we let the people in Portland pack things up for you, we will leave something behind. "
The military was powerful. Qi Rui slept in a berth that night, and it was a soft berth. This time, the bed was much better than the hard berth he came back from. Qi Rui tried hard, but he couldn't remember what his office in Portland looked like. When he thought of the military academy, Qi Rui could only think of his residence in the military academy in San Francisco. What left a deeper impression was the coach truck that Qi Rui often used. It was a six-seater truck. The wheels on each side of the back were double row. Although it consumed a lot of fuel, it ran fast and transported a lot of fuel. It was a sharp weapon in the field. In order to solve the fuel supply problem, Qi Rui and the other members of the Frontline Committee racked their brains and put in a lot of effort.
After another two days of silence, Qi Rui arrived at the beautiful port city of Vancouver. This city was already a completely ordinary city, and at this time, the city was extremely lively. Qi Rui thought there was some kind of welcoming ceremony here, but when he saw the words on the banner, it turned out to be "Vancouver Salmon Festival."
Salmon was an important fish in North America. Everyone in the Liberation Army during the war had eaten countless cans of salmon. Seeing such a festival, the guard was very excited. Combining food and reality was a very new feeling for him.
There were a lot of introductory texts on the Salmon Festival, and Qi Rui had limited interest in how to eat salmon. Even if the canned salmon tasted good, after eating hundreds of them, it was difficult to arouse his interest. What caught Qi Rui's attention was the board of the latest results. The latest results of the Min dynasty were artificial hatching of salmon fry. At least, it was claimed on the board that in the past, less than 5% of salmon eggs in a school of salmon could successfully hatch. Now, the highest rate of successful hatching was 50%. The reason why this wasn't done was that the river system couldn't support so many salmon fry. But it meant that the salmon could reproduce steadily, ensuring the fishermen's harvest.
Qi Rui instinctively thought that this research was probably ordered by his father, Vézé. Other than Vézé, Qi Rui had never seen anyone with such a style of work. Thinking that he would soon be able to see his father, a smile appeared on Qi Rui's face. And standing next to his father must be his mother.
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