The capture of Taiyuan by the vanguard army was already expected by everyone, and even Yue himself had expected it a long time ago, but he didn't expect it to be captured in three days. It turned out that they expected to keep it for a month, and this was still a conservative inference, and they didn't arrogantly shout about keeping it for three months.

"How could they capture Taiyuan so quickly? 20,000 people relying on the city can't stop them for three days? Shunroku Hata's face was full of surprise. Because of the defeat in the Central Plains Battlefield, Sugiyama Gen was recalled to Japan, and Shunroku Hatahata of the Central China Dispatch Army temporarily acted as the commander-in-chief of the Huaxia Front.

This appointment is only temporary. Because of the resignation of Sugiyama Gen and the collapse of the domestic cabinet, he faced another power reshuffle. The fixed candidate has not yet been determined, but Shunroku Hata, because of his achievements in Central China, stood out from a group of defeated generals, and was not called back to China, but temporarily commanded the Huaxia Dispatch Army to support the shelf.

"We're gathering detailed information!" Kenji Tsuchihara returned to the road.

Under normal circumstances, once there is a defeat or mistake in the army, not only will the superiors be held responsible, but often those high-ranking subordinates will also step down along with them. But I fought too much with the vanguard army, and I lost more battles, and I was no longer so brainless. Otherwise, the vast majority will have to be brushed off.

This time, Kenji Dohihara relied on the hardness of the background, and this time he did not rise or fall, and he was still his intelligence leader.

"Are our people alright?" Kenji Dohihara asked as soon as he returned to his office after leaving the headquarters.

Since the 109th Division was used as an experiment in urban defensive warfare, it was natural that someone needed someone to pass on the battle in detail. The agents who stayed behind were specially mixed with the civilian population to take care of these tasks, and they brought out the battle reports compiled by the 109th Division. He needed to understand why the vanguard army was able to break through the fortified city of Taiyuan so quickly through detailed battle materials.

"Only two people came back." The adjutant next to him replied.

"The lockdown is strict?" Kenji Dohihara was a little surprised, after the general vanguard army captured the city, after pacifying the people, it would soon be able to trade and pass.

"A Shaozo ordered the soldiers to take the people of China hostage, and after being killed by the vanguard army, some of the soldiers took advantage of the chaos to escape. The vanguard army is searching for martial law in Taiyuan. The adjutant immediately replied.

"Idiot!" Kenji Tsuchihara scolded in a low voice.

Holding people hostage will make public opinion passive again. It's not just a-for-tat retaliation from the vanguard, but there are also more than a dozen European and American people who are idle and always love to dig up such news. This also became the reason for those European and American countries to intervene in China in the future. As the vanguard army brandished a lot of money to buy materials and machinery, and the Yue army regressed step by step in front of the vanguard army, there were some subtle changes in the relationship between those European and American countries towards Huaxia and Yueben.

The most obvious is the attitude of the Americans, who are likely to take advantage of a seemingly inconspicuous incident to come over and interfere with the actions of the Americans in China.

Although he knew that those soldiers were also forced to be anxious, the order of his boss was to completely obey the result. They were originally experimental, and the military department needed to know how big the gap between the army and the vanguard army was in the real urban offensive and defensive battles. It's also a good way to neutralize the vanguard army's firepower superiority.

He said that his country was in chaos at this time, and he was flawless, and he also needed time to adjust all this at this time. It is good that the vanguard army does not attack, and if they do, they can only drag them down with one city after another, so as to avoid the amazing heavy artillery and rocket artillery of the vanguard army.

"Send someone to meet them and gather more detailed information. By the way, put some wind on the line on Yan Xishan's side. After pondering for a moment, he spoke.

He also had the same plan as Lao Jiang, planning to make Yan Xishan and the vanguard army have a fight.

But this time he miscalculated, the vanguard army broke through Taiyuan City, Yan Xishan did not clamoring to come back, but was silent. And this siege, which was expected by everyone, did not cause any big waves.

It was not until a few days later, when the news came that the Soviets and Germany had signed a non-aggression pact, that Yan Xishan suddenly announced that he would fully cooperate with the vanguard army. That's what shocked the world.

Internationally, they were surprised by the treaty signed by the Soviet Union and Germany. At that time, Hitler shouted the slogan of dealing with Soviet Russoism, so that Britain and France tolerated and adopted appeasement step by step. But now it is clear that the Germans played the British and the French.

The airwaves over Europe are constantly shaking, and the situation is gradually unbalanced.

And the domestic attention to the Soviet Union is not very strong, they are more concerned about Yan Xishan's attitude.

"Full cooperation? What kind of full-fledged cooperation? "It's not just rumors in the market, but even the upper echelons are pondering what Yan Xishan means.

They did not hesitate for a long time, and two days later, the vanguard army announced that it would cooperate with Yan Xishan in economic and military affairs, and the vanguard army began to settle in Linfen, Houma and other areas, and began preparations for the subsistence allowance policy and comprehensive compulsory education. What surprised the world even more was that the Jin army began to mix and train with the vanguard army. This means that the army that Yan Xishan relied on is disappearing, and Yan Xishan has also lost the qualification to chase the deer.

The vanguard army also immediately announced that Yan Xishan would take up the post of vice chairman of the joint theater and coordinate and manage the operation of the economy and people's livelihood in the joint theater together with Zhou Bai and Li Shuchun.

The joint theater of operations is a new term for the vanguard army. Their territory is no longer just the original Seventh War Zone. The central authorities no longer approve the expansion of the scale of the special zone. Under the wording of Tang Yaoshi, the 7th Theater and Yan Xishan's 2nd Theater and Lu Zhonglin's Chahar Theater were merged into a large theater, which could facilitate the implementation of various policies of the vanguard army.

Although the central government has not yet approved it, it does not prevent the vanguard army from erecting the shelf first, anyway, it is regarded as cooperation below, and it can still bypass the central government.

There is no prefix such as North China in front of the Joint Theater, which also means that its scale is definitely not limited to North China.

The Joint Theater has set up a Joint Theater Management Committee, with one chairman and two vice-chairmen for the time being. The chairman is naturally Meng Xiang, and the vice chairmen are Yan Xishan and Lu Zhonglin. Instead of being divided into the second and seventh war zones, the administrative districts began to be divided into districts.

"We use counties and cities to divide the scale is a bit small, so that there are more administrative regions under our jurisdiction, and with the expansion of the territory, we need to divide the administrative areas at a larger level. It's also convenient to place people. Pharmacist Tang said.

Meng Xiang knew what he meant. With the expansion of the territory and the resettlement of some recruited personnel, the administrative establishment of counties and cities directly under the central government of the theater has been somewhat inadequate. There needs to be more hats and bigger cakes to tempt others. However, at this time, there were only five or six provinces in the joint station area, and the scope and power of one province were too great to be suitable for the balance of power.

When the balance of power remains stable on both sides, a sudden addition of a province's big weight to one end is undoubtedly an absolute advantage. On the contrary, it is better to make the weight that determines the surname smaller, and it can still maintain checks and balances.

And Meng Xiang also learned that the struggle between the central and local governments has never stopped. Holding the feudal officials of a province, even the central government has to look at it a few times. Each province is like a kingdom of reading, and sometimes the power is so great that the central government's policies cannot go out of the capital. In particular, Meng Xiang will gradually decentralize power to the people in the future, which will make the local power even larger, and the shadow of local protection will make it impossible to carry out a lot of coordination work of the central government. The warlord melee during the Republic of China also had something to do with the weakness of the central government.

There is also a need for a balance between the central and local levels. This lever of power is somewhat cramped in counties and cities, which is not conducive to future regional development. At the provincial level, there is some indulgence, which is easy to cause the tail to be big.

Meng Xiang discussed with Tang Yaoshi, Zhou Bai and others for a long time before introducing a new administrative division under the first-level central power, pondering for a long time, and first piloting it in some areas.

Shandong was divided into three. It is divided into Jiaozhou from the east of the Jiaolai River, and vigorously develops the marine industry with the help of seaport and coastal advantages, with Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai as the triangular center for development, and Qingdao is the main development.

Weifang, Qidu, Jinan, Tai'an, Qufu, Jining, Heze and other places are connected in series with the advantages of Jiaoji Line and Jinpu Line to form a large economic development area, with Jinan at the junction of Jiaoji Line and Jinpu Line as the center. Qidu was temporarily administered under the central government, but it would not last long, and transportation conditions and resources had limited its continued expansion.

Zaozhuang, Linyi, Lianyungang, Maozhou, Xuzhou, Huaibei all the way to the front line of confrontation with the devil in the south, using the Jinpu Railway, the canal, the Weishan Lake District, and the Longhai Railway to form an economic development area, with Xuzhou City at the junction of the Jinpu Line and the Longhai Line as the center.

The boundary of Hebei is also divided into several parts, Handan, Shijiazhuang, Jizhou, Baoding, Cangzhou until the Taihang Mountain Range as the boundary, with the Pinghan Railway and the Shitai Railway as the junction of Shijiazhuang as the center.

Beiping and Tianjin are combined into one large region, and it is ready to take advantage of the intercity railway and road connections under construction, with Beiping as the main area, to form a cultural and economic concentration center.

The boundaries of Chahar are still in the same state, waiting for future adjustments, and they are still centered on Zhangjiakou.

Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Qianxi and other places have not been recovered because the Chengde area has not been recovered, and they are only temporarily listed and have not changed.

Shanxi is also divided into three, the north is centered on Datong, bounded by Wutai Mountain, and Taiyuan is centered in the middle, while Jinnan in the south is mainly Linfen for the time being because Yuncheng has not yet started, but considering the interaction with Shaanxi in the future, the center also needs to be moved downward, Houma and Quwo.

The purpose of Shandong is to coordinate the division of rights within the special zone, and the prosperity of the special zone makes the division of many interests need to be compromised and balanced, while the third division of Shanxi is to digest and absorb the fat of Shanxi.

As for Suiyuan, there has been no adjustment, Fu Zuoyi's troops there have not yet been adjusted, and the population is sparse, so it is not worth adjusting for the time being. Originally, this kind of regional division was adjusted in combination with geography, humanities and economy, and with the development of the region, it may be adjusted at any time, and it is not eternal and fixed. When the vanguard army succeeds in cutting the deer, then it is the best time to divide the cake, and then adjust it according to the development situation of various places.

The territory occupied by the Henan region at this time, Meng Xiang intends to add Luoyang and other places to form a large development area, they have the same cultural background, is the birthplace of Chinese civilization, the Central Plains in a narrow sense. Luoyang, Kaifeng, Xuchang, Anyang and other places have carved many stories in history, even if the convenience of the big crossroads in Zhengzhou in later generations and the surrounding natural and cultural resources make the development conditions there are also very good.

But after a hundred years of war, many of the remaining people have lost the glory of their surnames in the survival of the fittest in order to survive, and they will no longer have the grace of antiquity.

The rejuvenation of China is not only military, economic, and cultural, but also needs to restore its former glory, not to copy the model, but to inherit and innovate the development of civilization, to inherit the spirit of reading power of a great country, to bloom a hundred flowers in culture, and to embrace the summer of all things.

Civilization needs to be inherited, and Meng Xiang determined the main line of civilization continuation. From the vicissitudes of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors in ancient times, to the mystery of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and then to the prestige of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Chinese civilization has its own system.

It's a pity that too many things were lost in later generations. If the branches of a tree are too crooked, it is better to re-branch them from the main trunk. Meng Xiang's plan is to trace the roots, draw nourishment from the unique spirit of Chinese civilization, combine modern development, and reshape it to make her flourish.

The revival of the birthplace of those declining civilizations has also become a key point in Mengxiang's development plan.

Whether it is Beiping or Nanjing, they have always developed and prospered for various reasons, and they do not need Meng Xiang's special attention. Even in Chang'an, there are still people who pursue it in their dreams. But the Central Plains, which used to be the most prosperous, has been silent in patches of crops for thousands of years, and only tomb robbers come from time to time.

Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Kaifeng area, there are the advantages of the junction of Pinghan Railway and Longhai Railway, but it has never been developed, mainly due to human factors.

Although the Central Plains has been a prosperous place since ancient times, it is also a place of four wars and a gladiatorial arena for major forces to duel. Whether it is at this time or in the future, no one dares to put their family wealth on this great plain. Even if it can be built intensively in later generations, it will not dare to invest too much because of foreign threats.

Without the sycamore wood, the outstanding talents have all gone, and the rest have been mediocre in the long river of time, even after being a royal noble.

By the time it can be developed in peacetime, the most important talent reserve has been missing, and it is difficult to develop it again, so it can only slowly take decades or even a hundred years to recuperate.

But at this time, Meng Xiang hopes to restore the glory of this war-torn land in advance, at least spiritually, to restore the bearing of a great country. Connecting the regions of these ancient civilizations together and merging them into a large area is what Meng Xiang prepared for this. No one is born noble and inferior, it's just the environment.

Of course, without the support of the economy, it is useless to say anything. Without a tranquil and peaceful environment for development, there can be no development.

With the base, Meng Xiang had the confidence to talk about these things, and only then could he build an ideal world on the basis of the base's powerful armament and the rich economy brought by it, and only then did he begin to draw those blueprints for the future.

"That's your economic plan?" When Yan Xishan, who came to Qidu again, looked at the economic development plan for the next five years in his hand, his face was also full of disbelief.

Zhou Bai has also become accustomed to it, and even he felt incredible when he came at the beginning.

"This is our development in the first half of the year, and we can infer the results of the development in the second half of the year." Zhou Bai smiled and handed a report to Yan Xishan's hand. Although Yan Xishan's status as vice chairman of the Joint Theater had little effect on Zhou Bai and others, after all, Yan Xishan was also managing the economy.

"Steel, 40,000 tons?" Yan Xishan gasped, looked at Zhou Bai and asked, "This is half a year?" Is it steel? ”

"This is the production statistics as of June 1." Zhou Bai nodded, "With the completion of the construction of the new blast furnace and steelmaking equipment, it is expected that we will be able to reach 100,000 tons this year!" ”

Yan Xishan didn't ask again if it was the output of pig iron, but was silent, lowered his head and continued to look at other statistics.

"Cotton yarn, 110,000 tons. The annual production plan is 200,000 tons. Yan Xishan is very sensitive to the economy, and the annual output of Huaxia cotton yarn in the highest year of 33 years, the golden age of the development of light industry, is only 440,000 tons. However, the territory of the vanguard army had to reach 100,000 tons in the previous year, and according to the output in the first half of the year, it was no problem to reach 200,000 tons. In the past, the cotton textile center was in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and with the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the output of cotton yarn in China declined. As a result, half of the production on the territory of the vanguard army can be accounted for.

"It turned out that my cotton textile enterprises in Qingdao, Tianjin and other places were accepted by us. It's just that there are quite a few that have been destroyed. Light industry produces quick results and absorbs a large number of surplus personnel, so it also needs to be vigorously developed. Most of the private development in the theater is dominated by this type of light industry. With the construction of steel mills and machinery factories, new cotton textile enterprises will also be built nearby, and our cotton textile output will continue to increase in the future. Zhou Bai explained, "Next year, the output of our textile enterprises will have a big increase, the European war is about to break out, and cotton textile enterprises have a lot of profit margins." ”

This is also a purpose for Mengxiang to develop cotton textile enterprises, and World War II is an opportunity to attract gold. Europe has been shattered, the American textile industry is no longer brilliant, and other developing countries do not have this strength. And because he has a large amount of money in his hands, Meng Xiang does not need to consider whether he is mainly heavy industry or light industry. The two develop together, and Meng Xiang can also support it, not to mention, in order to solve the problems of family members near the steel plant and machinery factory, there is also a need for a settlement plan for light industry enterprises.

Moreover, the demand for light industrial products in World War II was no worse than weapons and ammunition. Others have gone all out to produce weapons and ammunition to save their lives, and the difficulties in people's livelihood have greatly increased the profits of light industrial products.

Therefore, Meng Xiang has successively customized a lot of machinery from the United States and Germany, coupled with a large injection of private capital, if it is not subject to the lack of cotton production and sales channels, the output of this cotton yarn will be higher.

"Cement, 1.1 million tons. It is planned to produce 2 million tons for the whole year. Yan Xishan grinned again, Huaxia's cement industry is less than 2 million tons, and the vanguard army must first complete the country's output in one go. Although there are existing factories in Tangshan and other places, the expansion to 2 million tons is also a huge number. How did he know that with the continuous development of infrastructure construction in the war zone, Meng Xiang still felt that the output of cement was insufficient.

At this time, the construction capacity of the base is far from enough, and there is no need to think too much about environmental protection in this era, so cement factories are constantly being built in the war zone. This year's 2 million tonnes is just a conservative figure, and next year's target is 10 million tonnes. As long as the problem of motivation is solved, this goal is not difficult to achieve. And the base is not short of all kinds of power.

"Coal, 27 million tons, with an annual planned production of 50 million tons." Yan Xishan didn't have much feeling about this figure, the north originally produced a lot of coal, and most of the land fell into the hands of the vanguard army, and in the previous time, Huaxia could also produce 40 or 50 million tons a year. However, most of them are in the hands of foreigners. He had also heard of the situation on the territory of the Pioneer Army, and although some foreign-funded enterprises had been confiscated, some industries in Britain, France, and other countries still maintained the status quo.

He can also guess some of this question. According to Meng Xiang's analysis for him, the European war is about to break out, and these enterprises will be withdrawn when the time comes, and those British and French countries will not jump out and shout as they did in the past. When the time comes, those resource industries will be recovered, and I am afraid that the output will be able to increase a lot after using the machines of the vanguard army.

But what he didn't know was that the coal didn't include the one consumed at the base. There are mining vehicles that do not need to go through the original mining equipment.

Yan Xishan has also seen the mining situation of some coal mines belonging to the Pioneer Army, which are much stronger than those black coal kilns, and cannot be opened if they do not meet certain safety standards. Coupled with the minimum wage protection and subsistence allowance policy on the territory of the pioneers, those private mine owners did not dare to force too much, so they could only use fewer people and more machines to improve mining efficiency.

Because of this, although the expenditure is more, the amount of mining has not decreased at all, but has increased.

"Fertilizer, 5,000 tons, 10,000 tons planned for annual production!" When Yan Xishan saw the chemical fertilizer, he looked at Zhou Bai again, he had heard about the chemical fertilizer, and he had asked people to study this. However, it has the effect of increasing grain production, and the magnitude is not small. However, those fertilizers are all imported, and there is only a little experimental production in China. At this time, it has exceeded 1,000 tons at once, and even an annual output of 10,000 tons, which is still a breakthrough.

"Cars, 89?" Yan Xishan suddenly saw a very small number of projects.