Nine o'clock in the morning, Beijing. Daqianmen Railway Station, Platform 1.

Platform 1 is a dual-purpose platform for passengers and goods, and it is also the most well-equipped platform, with a capacity of 1,000 people, and has a rotating shunting platform, on which the train formation of Beijing Railway Station depends.

Now, Platform 1 is heavily guarded, and all ordinary civilian trains are transferred to other platforms, and this platform is about to welcome a special train.

In fact, the soldiers and policemen on guard at the scene were more tasked with protecting the special train, but protecting a big man, to be precise, Mr. President of the Republic of China.

Just half an hour ago, Zhao Bei, the president of the Republic of China, secretly rushed to the Daqianmen railway station, and the guardhouse accompanying the guards immediately took over the vigilance task of the No. 1 platform.

In order not to alarm anyone, even the management of the railway station did not inform the president of coming. The message from the guardhouse was only to "protect government officials".

What is about to enter the platform is not a special train in the ordinary sense, but a train that transports machines.

These machines are not ordinary machines, but all military machinery, a few of these machines are dismantled from the Texas Arsenal, and most of them are dismantled from the arsenals of other provinces, although they are all old machines, but the performance is still very good.

Of course, these military machinery were not transported to the capital, but to the outside of the Guan, to the city of Shenyang, where an arsenal was about to be built to provide reliable logistical support for the garrisons of the three eastern provinces.

This is also an important project in the center's "four-year industrial exhibition plan", and the reason why it is only now officially implemented is mainly because the provincial arsenals have just completed the renewal of equipment.

There were also arsenals in the three eastern provinces before, among which the larger scale is the Jilin Machinery Bureau, the arsenal was built in 1887, most of the machinery and equipment were purchased from Germany, a few were purchased from the United Kingdom and the United States, the annual funds required were 100,000 taels of silver in Kuping, and in the heyday there were nearly 1,000 employees, more than 100,000 kilograms of black powder could be made every year, 2 million guns and shells of all kinds, more than 1,000 copper shells of cannonballs, and several small steamers and gunboats were manufactured, as well as a full set of silver dollar machine casting equipment, such a factory. It may not be a big deal in an industrialized country, but for China at that time, especially for Jilin, its position was quite important, because most of the munitions manufactured by the factory were supplied to the Jilin garrison, and later it also provided arms for the Heilongjiang garrison, and the Qing army relied on these munitions to confront the Russian army.

However, the Jilin Machinery Bureau did not continue to develop, in 19oo years, "Gengzi National Change", Tsarist Russia under the pretext of encircling and suppressing the Boxer, occupied the factory, and then immediately blew up the gunpowder factory, and looted the entire factory, at the end of that year, when the Qing court Jilin general Changshun finally negotiated with the Russian Governor of Boli, the silver dollar branch factory was recovered, but most of the machinery and equipment and plant were still controlled by the Russian army. The Russian occupation of the Jilin Machinery Bureau lasted until 19o7, when the Qing court finally recovered all the factories from the Russian army, the former arsenal had lost the ability to manufacture ordnance, and the Qing court had no choice but to transform it into a foreign language school and a normal school. After Xu Shichang took over as the governor of the three eastern provinces, he used part of the factory of the Jilin Machinery Bureau to set up a Jilin Ordnance Bureau, but due to the scattered equipment and factory area of the factory, it has turned from a factory that can manufacture ordnance into an ordnance warehouse, which can only be used to store ordnance and military materials.

Originally, considering the Russian and Japanese forces in the three eastern provinces, some people had suggested that the arsenal should be located in Shanhaiguan, but after careful consideration, the Ministry of Heavy Industry and the Ordnance Industry Administration vetoed the proposal to establish an arsenal in Shanhaiguan, and instead decided to set up the arsenal directly in the city of Shenyang, so as to use the convenient railway transportation network there to transport arms and raw materials, as for the threat of Japan and Russia, this is also in the consideration of the Ordnance Industry Administration and the Ministry of Heavy Industry. For the sake of safety, the Shenyang Arsenal from the beginning of the design blueprint took into account the need for rapid relocation, once the situation is unfavorable, the arsenal can complete the relocation within a few days, at the same time, in order to reduce possible losses, the machinery and equipment of the Shenyang Arsenal are used in other arsenals to eliminate the old machines, not required to be able to manufacture advanced weapons, as long as it can ensure the production of rifles and ammunition, in addition, the only heavy weapons produced by the factory is mortars.

It must be admitted that even if the Shenyang Arsenal is established, it is only an ordinary-scale arsenal, and it cannot be compared with a large factory like the Hanyang Arsenal. However, for the three eastern provinces and regions where the military industry is almost zero, the establishment of this arsenal is undoubtedly of great significance, and more importantly, it is also the central time to directly invest in heavy industry in the three eastern provinces, which can be regarded as a weather vane, and the central government has indeed taken a supportive stance on heavy industry investment in the three eastern provinces.

Today, the special train transporting the last batch of military machinery will stop at Beijing Railway Station, in order to show the importance that the central government attaches to this industrial construction, Zhao Bei, President of the Republic of China, personally rushed to the railway station, and planned to use half an hour to have a cordial conversation with those skilled workers and their families who came with the car, and asked for warmth, after all, these technical backbones are selected from the Guannei, and many people even come from Guangdong and Fujian, and in the future, they will take root in the three eastern provinces of Baishan and Heishui, and these are all people who dedicate themselves to the countryThe president received them to boost morale and recognize exemplary models.

At 9:05, the special train entered the station on time and stopped at the heavily guarded platform No. 1, and the people on the train were told about it. They will be received by the President in the waiting room.

Among the passengers of the special train, the highest position is, of course, Liu Qingen, director of the Ordnance Industry Administration, who will also stay in Shenyang for a period of time, personally presiding over the construction of the arsenal and striving to complete the installation and commissioning of the factory's machinery as soon as possible.

Liu Qingen, like everyone else, only learned that the president was waiting for them at the station after entering the train station, although he was a little surprised, but Liu Qingen was not as excited as the others, after all, the president often met with him, and talked about it. He is still a relative of the president, but it is a pity that the president came over today without his wife, and Director Liu had to dismiss the idea of seeing his niece.

The president was very happy to see Liu Qingen, and after some advice, he did not forget to take out a sketch from the pocket of his military uniform and hand it to Director Liu.

"Lao Liu, look at it, this is a revised sketch, you should study it carefully."

Liu Qingen glanced at the sketch, nodded, and put the sketch into his briefcase, neither expressing his opinion nor asking any questions, because he knew very well that this revised design sketch was an absolute military secret, and at present, he and the president knew it, and even the 6th Military Department and the 6th Navy Joint Staff Department did not know.

Next, the president, accompanied by Director Liu, met with the military technical experts and their families who came with the car; although many specialized technical schools have been established in China, technical personnel are still precious, and anyone with technical expertise is a precious asset of this country.

Before meeting with all the technicians, Foreign Minister Wu Tingfang sent an assistant to hurried to Platform 1 to bring news to the president.

"Mr. President, Mr. Zhu Erdian, British Minister and Mr. Yukichi Kohata, the new Minister of Japan to China, have jointly visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked to meet the President.

Originally, it was more convenient for Wu Tingfang to make a phone call, but the president visited the railway station for a short time, and neither announced nor sent someone to take over the railway station, so for the sake of secrecy, Chief Wu had to send an assistant to make a trip.

"The new Japanese minister to China came over so soon? The Japanese government is in a hurry. And come with the British minister, what the hell is this trying to do? ”

Many questions are waiting to be answered, Zhao Bei also had no intention of staying at the railway station for a long time, and after taking a group photo with the technical backbones, he hurriedly left the railway station with his entourage and returned to the presidential palace, and then a phone call went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, instructing Wu Tingfang to bring the British minister and the Japanese minister to the presidential palace to meet the president.

When the British minister Zhu Erdian and the Japanese minister Kohata Yukichi arrived at the state guesthouse, Zhao Beixian was both depressed, and the Japanese minister's left arm was wrapped with a black veil.

Wu Tingfang walked up to the president and whispered a few words.

"Mr. President, news has just come from within Japan that just an hour ago, Emperor Meiji of Japan passed away. However, the Japanese and British ministers did not come for this purpose. ”

"Emperor Meiji is dead? Message really? ”

Zhao Bei couldn't help but ask, then turned his head and glanced at the black yarn wrapped around the Japanese minister's left arm.

Emperor Meiji, the most pivotal figure in Japan's recent history, and as an icon of the "Meiji Restoration", for the Japanese, the death of Emperor Meiji announced the end of an era.

As a historical traveler, Zhao Bei is very clear that after the death of Meiji, Japan's "Taisho Era" began, and this era is called "Taisho Democrasi" by the Japanese, this is an era of Japanese constitutionalism power exhibition, if it is not for the "Taisho Era" is too short, Japan's military is likely to be unable to fully control the government, in that case, perhaps the world's modern modern history will be very different.

In such a new era, in the face of such a new situation, how will the relationship between China and Japan unfold?

Zhao Bei sat on the sand, looked at the expressionless Japanese minister, and then looked at the British minister who was also expressionless, although Mr. President's expression was also very stiff now, but it did not hinder his thinking.

Now, Zhao Bei has begun to figure out how to take advantage of Japan's "Taisho era". (！ )