Zhan Tianyou did not wait to rest, and went to Sheng Xuanhuai's mansion to report the progress of the project, and after everything was done, he returned to Lanzhou by airship in the evening of the same day. On the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, he summoned the engineers who were celebrating the New Year in Lanzhou, read out the holy decree, and then introduced his adjustments to the entire project. Although the construction period was shortened by several years, the engineers who felt the urgency of the matter did not question the shortening of the new construction period, but worked together to propose many ways to save time and improve efficiency.

But this is only the details, the biggest shortening of the construction period is still in the line and construction standards, the standard can never be lowered, then you can only find a way on the line; As for the economic losses caused by the fact that the entire section of the railway rarely passes through the city, it is a matter of the future, and it is the determination of all the people in the entire engineering headquarters to quickly repair it under the premise of ensuring quality.

After communicating with the management and technical personnel, in the name of the general headquarters of the project, the content of the holy decree became a common saying, spreading on the construction site of more than 1,000 kilometers from Baoji to Yumen. The workers did not know what the fortunes of the country were, but when they heard that the railway was not repaired for a day, the emperor would not be able to sleep well for a day, and they were all panicked.

Yang Rui didn't know that his words were changed to the emperor by Zhan Tianyou and others, and he didn't know that this sentence had caused tens of thousands of workers on the entire line to scream in the gale and cold to build roads, and the only thing he was concerned about now was the rebellion of Indian white soldiers in Singapore. After understanding the whole thing, he was even more taboo against Bai Min. The mutinous 5th Light Infantry Regiment was a loyal lackey of the British in the 1857 Indian uprising against the British, but this unit with such a long history and such loyal soldiers would have rebelled because of the Ottomans joining the Central Powers. This is undoubtedly the best example of the primacy of faith over blood.

The actual dispatch of them to the Middle East to fight the Ottoman army was only a rumor of the Germans or pro-Germans. The real place they are going to is Hong Kong, but this is the rumor. Caused the entire infantry regiment to mutiny. They killed officers who had always been bad to them, and swept through the city of Singapore in the night.

The Governor of Singapore, John Brown. Sir Anderson and his group of aristocratic gentlemen were in a panic, and took refuge on the merchant ship on the docks, guarded by only a hundred policemen—he had some gentlemanly demeanor, and of course it was possible that he had time to escape, and he had taken with him a number of English women and children with him when he fled. But that's all he can do, and in addition to constantly sending distress telegrams to the outside world, he can only watch the rebels do evil on the shore, even if there are more than 200,000 inhabitants there.

"The British are so weak in the Far East?" After listening to a more detailed report than the previous two days, Yang Rui subconsciously asked this sentence. Singapore is the choke point of shipping throughout East Asia. The defense forces there shouldn't be so lax.

"Sir, once the British move westward, the entire Far East will have to be defended by the Japanese. The German raider Emden in the Far East had been destroyed by the Australian Sydney three months earlier, and Earl Spee's fleet had been wiped out in the South Pacific two months earlier, and the British saw the only threat to the whole of Asia as the Ottoman Empire. Singapore is thousands of miles away from West Asia, and the war in Europe is getting closer and closer, so they can only completely withdraw troops from all over the country to participate in the war in Europe. Although the rebellious force was only transferred to Hong Kong, if there were a few flesh mills on the European battlefield. These people are also going to be transferred to Europe. ”

The intelligence bureau monitors the whole world, and although the funds are limited, the overseas Chinese are unlimited, and the overseas Chinese around the world are happy to tell the imperial court what they know.

Yang Rui has always been satisfied with the work of the Intelligence Bureau. However, listening to Zhang Shi talk about the flesh mill on the Western Front, his mind couldn't help but drift to the European battlefield. The German army, which barely gained a foothold on the Marne, could not encircle and annihilate the main force of the Anglo-French army. The only way to attack Paris was to occupy Paris and completely crush the French will to resist. At this time, the French red-pants soldiers were under the command of an officer who advocated attack. Before the Germans attacked, they killed them first.

The German General Staff, which summed up the essence of the Sino-Japanese trench warfare, quickly caused these red-trousers soldiers who were still under the command of the tactical thinking of the last century to bleed rivers and dead bodies. However, when they thought that they could attack after exhausting the elite of the French army, they were killed by the defenders of Paris and bloodied - after the attack failed a few days ago, the commander of the Paris garrison, General Galliedy, thus kicked away the interference of the general headquarters and took back the command of the defenders of Paris. Also with machine guns barbed wire, as well as newly arrived Chinese mortars, under the command of Galliedy, the French returned the color to the Germans. After suffering 200,000 casualties, Moltke confessed to the Kaiser that Germany had lost the war. He was immediately dismissed by the Kaiser and replaced by Erich. Feng. Colonel-General Falkingham was Chief of the General Staff of the German Army.

Admiral Falkingham no longer ordered the Germans to attack south, but hoped to occupy northern France in order to cut off the connection between Britain and France, but was once again defeated, and the new aircraft purchased by Britain and France from China finally defended their airspace. After losing air superiority, the logistically weak German army had no choice but to stop the offensive - the commander of the Eastern Front, Hindenburg, who had just fought a beautiful annihilation battle at Tannenberg, believed that there were too many ports and railways in northern France and that it was impossible to occupy them comprehensively, and that Germany should take advantage of Russia's containment by China to defeat Russia as soon as possible; As for severing the ties between the British and French armies, one can only hope for the navy.

The Western Front disappointed the Kaiser, while the under-armed Eastern Front fought a beautiful battle. In line with his trust in the victors, the Kaiser affirmed Hindenburg's judgment and agreed to transfer the main German forces to the Eastern Front in order to defeat Russia as soon as possible and ultimately avoid fighting on two fronts. The German army moved eastward, and Britain and France on the western front finally had time to lick their wounds, but the German army on land took a defensive position, but the asymmetric naval war with submarines as a sharp weapon began. The Royal Navy of the British Empire knew about the danger of submarines from the Sino-Japanese War, but there was no way to deal with these sharks lurking at the bottom of the sea.

Although the Germans had not yet begun unrestricted submarine warfare, the number of merchant ships sunk in the last month of last year and the first month of the new year amounted to 220 merchant ships, totaling 450,000 tons. The General Staff Headquarters reported to Yang Rui that as more and more new submarines are launched by Germany, more and more British and French merchant ships will be sunk, and the number of merchant ships to be sunk in the whole year of Shenwu will exceed 3 million tons. And the UK's newbuilding is less than 1.2 million tons.

Yang Rui likes to hear about the achievements of German submarines and likes the merchant ships being sunk one by one. Now the elite of the domestic shipping industry has felt the opportunity that German submarines bring to shipping, but everyone must admit it. It is estimated that the results of submarine warfare will come out by the end of the year.

After Zhang Shi answered Yang Rui's question, he saw that he was a little distracted, so he had to wait on the side, and only after a long time did he hear Yang Rui say: "It's a pity, we want to sell submarines, but Germany doesn't want it yet." He continued: "Singapore is under the control of the rebels, and our army will not arouse their anger if they suddenly run over - with the virtue of the British, it will surely be announced that the Chinese army is coming, and that it will be strong or that the rebels will surrender." What if these outlaws can't think about it, how many people will be pulled on their backs before they die? Our people are right in the city. ”

Zhang Shi didn't expect Yang Rui to think of this matter, he didn't know that Yang Rui was extremely distrustful of the gentlemen and morals of the British, so he had to say: "Then we can inform the British not to publicize this time." ”

"Hmm. How many Britons did you just say? Yang Rui nodded and asked another thing.

"Probably less than two hundred, and then there are one hundred and fifty people from the Sultan of Johor, and the armies from other places have not yet arrived." Zhang Shidao.

"Then let's go over, there is a battalion of marines, plus sailors on the Shenmu. I'm afraid there are a thousand of them. Yang Rui said about the troops, and then said: "Since we account for the vast majority, then the counterinsurgency should be led by us, at least independently commanded ......"

"Sir. This should be a consultation between Mr. Shigean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British. Zhang Shi reminded.

"Oh. Then bring Chong'an here. Yang Rui said this to Li Zilong. After a while, Xie Jintai came, although a year has passed, but his feet have not touched the ground these days. As an overseas Chinese, if you can't protect overseas Chinese. Then he, the foreign secretary, is going to do it.

"Chong'an, what do the British say?" Yang Rui saw that he was in a trance. One sentence woke him up.

"They thought I was joking." Xie Zhangtai smiled bitterly, "Taiwan is nearly 2,000 nautical miles away from Singapore, and our people will arrive tonight, and they don't believe it at all." He also comforted me by saying that the British Imperial Army had taken control of the situation......"

"What's that?" Yang Rui also smiled, "Hiding on the boat and calling the situation?" ”

"I don't think the British minister knows what the situation is in Singapore, after all, this kind of thing can't be publicized," Xie Zhangtai said, "I think, it's better to go to the local area and see the opportunity to act." The good news now is that the rebels are only vendetta against white people, and as long as they don't encounter the Chinese, they won't deliberately kill. The consulate and the overseas Chinese business chamber are safe for the time being, and the bad news is ...... That is, Hu Wenhu's Yong'an Hall was occupied by them, saying that there were wounded among the rebels. ”

"Hu Wenhu?" Xie Jintai will mention it, it is naturally a famous overseas Chinese businessman, and in Singapore, Yang Rui is familiar with Chen Jiageng, Lin Wenqing, Chen Ruojin, and he has no impression of who this Hu Wenhu is.

Xie Zhangtai saw that he didn't know Hu Wenhu, and he didn't know how to explain it, "That's it, it's just ......" His mind turned, and he suddenly changed his tone, learning the tone in the radio advertisement: "If you want to spend the winter safely, please prepare tiger brand medicine, tiger brand gold balm...... Now you know. ”

"Oh, I remember," Yang Rui patted his thigh, "It's the one who sells panacea, or is it developed by our real room and for him" After he woke up, he pointed at Xie Jintai and smiled: "Chong'an, you learn the truth of advertising, or you can also pull a few advertising dubbing." ”

Seeing that Yang Rui still had the heart to make fun of him, Xie Jintai's face suddenly became bitter, and he said: "It's done, when will it be, and you still have the heart to laugh at me." I just thought that the matter would be over soon, so that I could give an explanation to the overseas Chinese. Although the land reform has compensated the overseas Chinese with full land price, the reputation of the government, hey, don't talk about this ......"

The tenants of land reform are supportive, but many overseas Chinese are not happy, especially those who have money. If Singapore's affairs are handled well, the wealthy overseas Chinese businessmen will eventually be able to work with the government with one heart and one mind, and you must know that 80 percent of the bonds issued by the state were subscribed by them, and the overseas Chinese also subscribed to a lot of the Zhaoxin stocks issued by the Manchu Qing Dynasty more than 10 years ago, and under the impetus of overseas Chinese parliamentarians, the bonds of more than 20 million taels were finally recognized by the new dynasty.

Morally speaking, the new dynasty replaced the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and all the foreign debts were recognized, and the domestic debts, especially the domestic debts that were dedicated to the country, should also be recognized, and as for the silver obtained from the Zhaoxin stocks, it was the responsibility of the Manchu bureaucracy and had nothing to do with the bondholders. This is the truth of the overseas Chinese. However, Yang Rui finally approved the Ministry of Household to recognize Zhaoxin stocks, and the bigger focus was to win over overseas Chinese. Bonds are for this. The Shenwu attack is also for this, this is not a matter of tens of millions of taels. This is a major event of 100 million or 200 million overseas remittances a year and a balance of payments.

"Chong'an, you can rest assured. This panacea, isn't it right......" Yang Rui wanted to laugh again, but this time he held back, "Hu Wenhu, as long as he lives, he will definitely be able to save him." ”

Yang Rui asked Li Zilong to draft a telegram and send it to the Shenwu, and after thousands of miles, it reached the hands of Colonel Zhu Tiansen, the captain of the Shenwu. At this time, the location of the Shenmu was already near the Riau Islands. It is still 300 nautical miles from Singapore.

After reading the telegram, Zhu Tiansen informed the adjutant to bring in Li Erhu, the commander of the 2nd Marine Division who was rescued by ship. This division commander from the Northeast was originally ready to lead people to occupy the Miyako Islands in Japan, but he didn't want the General Staff to cancel the order later, which made him and his group of subordinates who wanted to hunt heads so that they could become real men were extremely disappointed. In the end, with the excellent combat skills of the soldiers of the 2nd Division, Lu Mengxiong agreed to send a battalion from the 2nd Division to the ship, and the soldiers of the 1st Division will continue the New Year.

When Zhu Tiansen asked Li Erhu to go to the bridge, he was studying a map of Singapore with his men in the hangar - since it was changed to a royal yacht. There were only a few reconnaissance planes on the aircraft carrier, and the rest of the planes went ashore. Now a battalion of the 2nd Division lives here, and the mountain people who walk on the flat ground in the mountains have been trained several times, and they are not uncomfortable riding such a large boat. On the contrary, they were very happy, and in a few days they would be able to hunt heads.

"The Prime Minister has called and asked you not to think about the British. You can fight as much as you want; In order not to retaliate against the rebels, do not display the military flag at the beginning. Zhu Tiansen said: "There is." This man named Hu Wenhu has to find a way to rescue him. ”

Zhu Tiansen handed the telegram to Major General Li Erhu and told him the general contents of the telegram. Same as Yang Rui. When Li Erhu saw Hu Wenhu's name, he asked, "What does this person do?" ”

"I am an overseas Chinese businessman, originally in Yangon, but when the business became bigger, I ran a school in Singapore, and I also spent the New Year in Singapore." Zhu Tiansen said that he knew Hu Wenhu, "The panacea sold on the market now is made by him." ”

"Oh ......, panacea, I know." Li Erhu also listened to the radio.

"When will I be able to get there?" Li Erhu only knew that the panacea was a medicine, and unlike Yang Rui, he knew that the panacea was harmful, what he cared about was when his soldiers would be able to start collecting people.

"After dark." Zhu Tiansen said. "We are now in contact with the British Governor, or they will panic and think of us as enemies."

Zhu Tiansen said that the British Governor-General, the British Governor-General at this time, John. Sir Andrew was 'meeting' with the Chinese Consul General in Singapore, Ouyang Geng, aboard the gunboat Cademes. After the first two days of attack, the Governor's forces were less than two hundred, even with the sailors on the gunboats, and he was no longer able to attack, and looking at the burning city of Singapore, which rang out from time to time with a few gunshots and screams, his best recourse now was to wait for the Japanese and French troops to come.

"My lord, the Chinese are giving us flags again." The signal officer of the gunboat reported loudly. On the windowsill of a Chinese-style house near the harbour side of Singapore, where several puffs of black smoke rise, someone is waving a simple flag with a slogan, this is the meeting between China and the UK, and if it is changed at night, then this is the light.

"What do the Chinese say, and what are the stupid words?" Governor Andrew was impatient, and he wondered if the king and his cabinet would transfer him from Singapore to other colonies after this rebellion.

"Yes, sir. The Chinese consul said that the Chinese navy would arrive in six hours, and he hoped that we would assist them in entering the city to quell the rebellion. The signalman squinted and read the flag on the window.

"Six hours?" The Chinese consul's stupid words had been going on for several days, but after hearing it for only six hours, the governor thought for a rare moment and said, "How many of them there are?" We need this army, if what he says is true. ”

"Yes, sir." The signalman ordered the flag-bearer to ask, and when the other party answered with the flag, the signalman did not wait for the signalman to return, so he read the flag and said, "Here is the 6th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Marine Division of the Chinese Marine Corps...... My lord, the Chinese came with about a battalion of troops, more than 500 people. ”

At first the signalman spoke of a division, then a brigade, and finally a regiment, Sir Andrew's bright eyes gradually darkened. "These yellow-skinned monkeys know how to lie, and they obviously don't even have the strength of a regiment." He scolded, "Let the Chinese report to me when they arrive, and attack together tomorrow." ”

"My lord, the Chinese also say that there are no less than five hundred sailors on the warship who can participate in the battle." Seeing that the other party's message was not finished, the signal officer read the flag again.

"That's very good." Sir Andrew finally had a smile on his face, "Maybe we can take Singapore back before the Japanese and French arrive." ”

"But the Chinese army is being asked to go it alone," the signalman said, reading the last sentence of the flag, and then looked at the governor.

"Singapore is a British colony, and even if it is occupied by rebels, it is still British." Andrew's chest straightened a little as soon as he said Britain, "Sue them, forbid the Chinese to act without permission." ”

The flag was fought for more than half an hour, and although the results were unsatisfactory, at least Andrew believed that a Chinese army was approaching. Singapore's consul Ouyang Geng listened to the report of his subordinate military attaché, stroked his beard and said: "Let's call the Shenwu and let them ......."

Ouyang Geng glanced at the restless overseas Singaporean businessmen around him, and said: "You have been here for many years, and now the British do not agree with our army to act alone, I am afraid that they will attack tomorrow like they did two days ago." His Excellency the Prime Minister had called and said that the rebels must not know that our army had come to quell the rebellion, lest they take revenge on the overseas Chinese before the city was breached. If only it had been ...... like the previous two days?"

Ouyang Geng saw the battle two days ago, the fearless British actually rushed to the fortress in line, while the Indian rebels hid in bunkers and tore them apart with machine guns. It was like this several times, the rebels were unscathed, the British were killed, and the officer who commanded the British attack was simply stupider than a pig.

"My lord, if you fight like you did two days ago, I'm afraid that many people will die." Lin Wenqing, the general office of the Chinese Entrepreneurs Association, said. On the day of the Chinese New Year, when there was a rebellion, he ran to the consulate with his family. Of course, he was able to react so quickly, because he and the consulate lived on Xi Street, and other overseas Chinese businessmen also lived here, but Hu Wenhu, who came from Yangon, lived in Yong'an Tang Chinese Medicine Store, which was too far away, otherwise he would not have been arrested by the Indians.

"Yes, sir." Singaporean legislator Chen Ruojin, who was dressed in a suit, stroked his glasses. "Those Indians killed the whites yesterday, and now they are starting to kill the Chinese, and it will be ...... if they come in a day later."

Chen Ruojin said that there was another thing that suddenly came to mind, that is, the British can't do it, do they come to the revival army? As a member of the legislature, Chen Ruojin naturally agreed with the views of the foreigners -- China was able to defeat Japan because of the large number of people, and because of Germany's technical help. Now the Chinese army is not only not more than the rebels, but less than the rebels, can this battle be won?

"According to international law...... well-known local lawyer Song Wangxiang said very rigorously: "Our army must obey the command of Governor Andrew, but ......" Song Wangxiang looked at others and disagreed, and then turned around and said: "There are no qualified officers under Governor Andrew, and he had better grant full authority to our army." After all, Singapore after the counterinsurgency is still British. ”

Ouyang Geng was a consul in Java before, and he was transferred to Singapore as a consul just after the anti-Chinese incident was resolved, and he hoped that the Chinese army would act alone, but the British did not agree, so he hoped that the overseas Chinese businessmen here could come up with a way, and he didn't want to say that it was nonsense. After Song Wangxiang finished speaking, when he coughed and wanted someone to call back the navy, a young man standing on the outermost side said: "My lord, if our army can attack the city at night, then there is a way to ignore Governor Anderson." ”

"Oh...", the whole room looked over, surprised but more disdainful, and the young man who looked at it was full of restraint, especially when he was only dressed in the clothes of a Western-style waiter. Ouyang Geng looked at him carefully, nodded and said, "Okay!" Young man, can you tell me what you can do? (To be continued......)

PS: Note: Typographical error in the previous chapter, the railway slope is 6 thousandths and 12 thousandths.