Chapter 461

The prisoner camp had always been a temporary installation. The nearly 4,000 captured Huai army soldiers froze in the cold autumn wind for a night. When dawn arrived, many people finally revealed a hint of relief. No matter what, dawn meant that the sun could bring warmth.

"Li Hongzhang! Come out! "the Liberation Army soldier guarding the Huai army shouted.

Li Hongzhang, who was in the middle of the captives, felt as if he had been whipped, and his entire body trembled. Yesterday and the day before, the captured Huai army soldiers were gathered and guarded one after another. Among the captive Huai army soldiers, Li Hongzhang always had a sense of belonging. After all, staying with his own people would always give him a greater sense of security. Now that he was called out, the people around Li Hongzhang immediately tried their best to leave Li Hongzhang, making him stand out among the crowd. Normally, this feeling of standing out was naturally very good, but now this feeling of standing out from the crowd had become a strong feeling of alienation.

However, Li Hongzhang was Li Hongzhang after all. Although he did not want to die, Li Hongzhang had thought about it repeatedly yesterday. The Liberation Army claimed to treat captives well, and Li Hongzhang had not fought any battles with the Liberation Army. Even if they had fought, the Huai army would still be on the losing side. He thought that he would not be immediately dragged out by the Liberation Army to be beheaded.

After tidying up his clothes, Li Hongzhang walked toward the Liberation Army guard. When the Huai army saw that Li Hongzhang was so bold, they subconsciously made way for Li Hongzhang. Many of the Huai army soldiers were serious and even admired him. This kind of gaze made Li Hongzhang feel good. There was no rush to surrender. When the Liberation Army really wanted to kill Li Hongzhang, it would be too late. If he threw out his trump card early, he would only be looked down upon by others.

When he arrived at the Liberation Army officer, the officer looked at Li Hongzhang and asked, "Are you Li Hongzhang?"

Li Hongzhang raised his head and puffed out his chest. "I am Li Hongzhang! Who are you? "

The officer rolled his eyes. "I am the person in charge of the captives."

These words were full of sarcasm. Li Hongzhang was immediately choked. His face alternated between red and white, but he could not say a word.

"Li Hongzhang, you are released," the officer said simply.

"What?" The sense of humiliation instantly flew beyond the clouds. Li Hongzhang could not believe such a thing.

The officer made further arrangements. "You've been released. We want you to deliver a letter to Jiang Zhongyuan. Take the letter, eat a meal, and then you can cross the river on the pontoon bridge we built. "

This change was completely beyond Li Hongzhang's imagination. Li Hongzhang would never have thought of this. The officer took out a letter and a piece of paper. "Li Hongzhang, write a receipt on it."

"Receipt?" Li Hongzhang knew what the word meant, but he did not know what to write a receipt for.

The officer said a little impatiently, "We asked you to bring a letter to Jiang Zhongyuan. We can't be sure whether you have given the letter to Jiang Zhongyuan. We have to prove to our superiors whether you have received this letter or not. Write quickly, don't waste time. After you finish writing, go eat. After eating, we still have to send you across the river! "

After writing the receipt doubtfully, Li Hongzhang took the letter from the officer. After that, things were simple. Li Hongzhang had breakfast and was escorted to the Huai River with the Huai army.

The river was a good place to kill, but Li Hongzhang's heart was still beating like a drum. Could it be that the Liberation Army was preparing to slaughter the Huai army, so they were using this method to break the will of the Huai army and then calmly kill the unarmed Huai army by the river?

It seemed that Li Hongzhang was not the only one who had this fear. Many of the Huai army were also walking slowly, and the whole procession was slowly lengthened. When they saw that there were really three pontoon bridges on the Huai River and the people walking at the front began to cross the Huai River, the people at the back became even more worried. Would a group of soldiers suddenly appear on the other side of the Huai River and kill the Huai army?

When the Huai army had all crossed the river, the Liberation Army began to dismantle the pontoon bridges. Li Hongzhang stood on a small dirt slope two kilometers away and watched the Liberation Army move calmly. Touching the letter in his arms, Li Hongzhang had no idea if he had had a nightmare in the past few days. Now, he had actually just woken up from a dream and was leading the Huai army to the south bank of the Huai River to compete with the Liberation Army.

But this was just a delusion. He looked around at the Huai army that had gathered around to worship and saw more Huai army hurrying north, ready to leave the Liberation Army's attack range as soon as possible. Li Hongzhang knew that he had fought a complete defeat. The combat ability of the Liberation Army and the Huai army had reached a level of difference. If you didn't want to commit suicide, don't take the initiative to provoke the Liberation Army. The big iron ship and the terrifying cannons on the ship left a deep impression on Li Hongzhang.

After reading the letter from the Liberation Army, Jiang Zhongyuan was about to tear it up. However, just before he was about to do it, Jiang Zhongyuan stopped and threw the letter to Li Hongzhang. When he opened it, it turned out to be a letter to persuade him to surrender. The Liberation Army advised Jiang Zhongyuan to surrender honestly. If he continued to fight, it would only get uglier and uglier.

As a defeated general, Li Hongzhang did not dare to speak. He handed the letter back to Jiang Zhongyuan without saying a word. Jiang Zhongyuan stood up and said angrily, "It doesn't matter if I die early or late. It's just death!"

His words were full of despair and frustration. After a while, Jiang Zhongyuan suddenly laughed. Li Hongzhang's hair stood on end. He was not worried that Jiang Zhongyuan had gone crazy, but that there was a sense of fearlessness in Jiang Zhongyuan's voice. It was the spirit of a person who had abandoned life and death.

His Excellency Jiang Zhongyuan could ignore his own life and death, but His Excellency Li Hongzhang felt that his life could not be buried with Manchu Qing for nothing. Although the experience of being captured was short, in just two days and one night, death flashed through Li Hongzhang's mind countless times. The importance of life had never been so clearly perceived by Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang did not say a word, for fear that any movement of his would let His Excellency Jiang Zhongyuan see Li Hongzhang's "courage". No matter how great the risk of victory was, Li Hongzhang could accept it. But Li Hongzhang could never accept fighting a battle that was bound to be lost.

After laughing for a while, Jiang Zhongyuan turned to Li Hongzhang and said, "Since the Liberation Army has underestimated us so much, we can wipe out the bandits first and stabilize the places. At that time, we will be able to fight the Restoration Army to the death. "

Li Hongzhang shuddered. This was an outcome he could completely imagine. The Liberation Army had such a powerful military force that they would not be satisfied with a Southern Dynasty. But at this time, what Li Hongzhang wanted to do was to dispel the possibility of Jiang Zhongyuan fighting the Liberation Army in the near future. Seeing that Jiang Zhongyuan was so smart, Li Hongzhang breathed a sigh of relief.

The Liberation Army had no intention of fighting the Huai army at this time, and the excellent performance of the armored ships used on the river made everyone very satisfied. Especially the steel cannons copied from Britain. These cannons used a rear-loading mode, and their shooting accuracy and range were far greater than the previous cannons. Six of these cannons had beaten the Huai army into a sorry state. Four or five of these gunships could ensure the safety of the Huai River.

Vézé raised another question. "We can grow long-staple cotton and alfalfa in the sandy area between the Huai River and Xuzhou."

The American Civil War was basically over at this time, and China had gained a lot from the war. One of them was the introduction of long-staple cotton from the United States and Egypt. This introduction was very successful, and the current problem was the lack of suitable places for large-scale planting in the south and other places. From the Huai River to Xuzhou, the Huai River had raged for hundreds of years, leaving behind a large amount of sandy land that was difficult to grow food. This kind of land was suitable for growing cotton. At least at this stage, it was suitable for growing cotton and alfalfa.

These plantings could be considered to be approved by the Central Committee, but Vézé's next suggestion made everyone dumbfounded.

"Places like Yunnan and Guizhou are suitable for growing peppers, peppercorns, and rubber. In addition to opening up terraced fields as much as possible in those places, we need to help the local people live. I heard that crayfish have begun to wreak havoc in the tidal flats of Jiangsu. There should be a market for spicy crayfish in the cities. "Vézé, a foodie, could not help but show off after watching two seasons of A Bite of China.

Looking at everyone's shocked expression, Vézé laughed and said, "We've all suffered from hunger before. Don't be fooled by those few mouthfuls of meat. When the famine years come, it's a life!"

What he said was true. Half a catty of crayfish meat could last a day without starving. However, everyone was really not used to Vézé suddenly speaking in such a way.

Of course, Vézé did not want to show off his vision as a foodie. He threw out the next important point. "I know everyone is not used to it, and I also know why you are not used to it. It's because the supply is based on the process. Being able to catch crayfish doesn't mean that we can transport them to the cities. Not going north doesn't mean that we are doing nothing. In addition to building irrigation works, we need to strengthen the construction of roads. Railways and roads will not only be the focus for the next three years, but also for the next thirty years. The railroads and highways connected the various cities. These cities are the most important foundation of our Restoration Party. In this era of industrialization, cities and their industries are the real core of a country. "

These ideas were very advanced, and everyone was confused. However, since Vézé said so, everyone knew that they had to do it in the future. Therefore, everyone took out their notebooks and began to take notes. Zuo Zongtang listened attentively and remembered everything carefully. He had gradually realized that the Liberation Army's victory in every battle was due to the army's efforts, but behind the army were a large number of factories and mines. These were the real strength of the Restoration Party.

Zuo Zongtang believed that the foreign devils' countries also had such a large number of industries. That was why they could cross thousands of miles and fight their way to China's doorstep. The Liberation Army demonstrated military strength that was not inferior to the foreign devils because they relied on these industries.

After Vézé roughly finished talking about the construction of the cities and the supply of supplies, Wei Changrong spoke. "Commander-in-chief, based on our experience in Guangzhou, don't look at the small vendors who set up night market stalls. Many of them earn more than us. What should we do? "

The question was very sharp, but it was sonorous and powerful. Everyone's attention was attracted by it. This was the content that Vézé and Wei Changrong had colluded. Vézé smiled and said, "That's easy. We'll open a state-owned restaurant. That's when we have to talk about the so-called investment. "